RUTH PATIR’S (M)OTHERLAND PREMIERES IN THE U.S. AT THE JEWISH MUSEUM THIS DECEMBER

New York, NY, October 8, 2026—This December, the Jewish Museum presents the U.S. premiere of artist Ruth Patir’s (M)otherland. Through digital animation of ancient archaeological objects, Patir examines contemporary experiences of gender and the body as she chronicles the process of freezing her eggs. Presented in an immersive installation, this cycle of videos offers layered reflections on how technology and sociopolitical forces reach into even the most private corners of our lives.

On view from December 18, 2026, through June 6, 2027, Ruth Patir: (M)otherland features a suite of videos drawing on Patir’s experiences undergoing fertility preservation treatment following a gene mutation diagnosis. Throughout the series, Patir transposes digitally animated ceramic figurines from the Iron Age into real recordings and imagined interactions—with boyfriends, doctors, ultrasound technicians, and the virtual audiences of social media. The archeological objects—dating from 800–600 BCE and widely assumed to have been associated with fertility—become avatars for the artist and the women around her.

Through surreal animated vignettes, Patir explores themes of gender and autonomy in the context of Israel’s state-funded IVF policies. An additional video, Keening, shows a procession of the female figurines marching in a collective expression of mourning, connecting an ancient ritual of lament with turbulent realities of the present. By exposing deeply private moments with tenderness and humor, Patir creates a personal yet globally resonant artistic narrative, addressing the joys and frustrations of a time when technology is profoundly reshaping culture and medicine and re-inventing how we perceive ourselves.

“A visionary storyteller, Ruth Patir is constantly modeling new ways of engaging with mediums and technologies to evoke the universality of human experience in a rapidly shifting world,” said James S. Snyder, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director of the Jewish Museum. “We were proud to acquire this historic video-based project just after the close of the 2024 Venice Biennale and we look forward to presenting its U.S. premiere at the Museum in December.”

Installed throughout the museum’s first floor galleries, the exhibition includes displays that evoke settings depicted in each video, from hospital waiting rooms to the artist’s own apartment.

Films on view include:

• Intake (2024) and Petah Tikva (Waiting) (2024), which follow the artist as she begins her journey through a male-dominated medical establishment. In these videos, the protagonist observes those around her as they scroll on their phones or watch the waiting room television broadcasting live news, reflecting global events in real time;
• (M)otherland (2024), the titular video of the series unites two years of real-life footage and audio recordings with phantasmagoric animated sequences, capturing the artist’s anxiety, annoyance, and acerbic wit as she navigates both the logistics of fertility preservation and her own ambivalence about undergoing these procedures;
• Retrieval Stories (2024) uses a format modeled on that of Instagram Stories, to capture the tedious, repetitive tasks associated with fertility treatments and the virtual community that forms around them;
• Keening (2024), created after October 7, 2023, and emerging from the broader context of the protests in Israel in the preceding months, follows a procession of women as they march down city streets. Partially fractured, these archeological figurines process in a shared public expression of grief, rage, and protest.

“Ruth Patir’s work is both an unsparing personal disclosure and a complex reflection on a common experience that is largely absent from public discourse. (M)otherland      is a moving, observant, and, at times, hilarious exploration of gender and identity in a world in which both technology and government have unprecedented reach into our lives,” said Shira Backer, Leon Levy Associate Curator at the Jewish Museum.

Originally created for the Israel Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale and presented at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2025, the Jewish Museum presentation marks the U.S. premiere of (M)otherland. The exhibition is curated by Shira Backer, the Jewish Museum’s Leon Levy Associate Curator.

About Ruth Patir

Ruth Patir is a new media artist who fuses documentary storytelling with computer-generated imagery in a quest to expand the borders of realism. Her work is often grounded in her own biography and gradually expands to address larger societal issues, such as the politics of gender, technology, and the hidden mechanisms of power.

Patir received her MFA from Columbia University, New York (2015) and her BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem (2011). Solo exhibitions of her work were presented at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo (My Father in the Cloud, 2022); OnCurating Projects, Zurich (M/otherland, 2021); and Hamidrasha Gallery, Tel Aviv (Love Letters to Ruth, 2018). She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, in such venues as: the 14th Gwangju Biennale; and the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Tel Aviv-Yafo; Danspace Project, New York; Petah Tikva Museum of Art, Israel. Screenings of her work have been presented at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Jerusalem Film Festival; Anthology Film Archive, New York; and more. In addition to the Jewish Museum, Patir’s work is in other public collections including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and Kadist Foundation, Paris.

Exhibition Support

Leadership support for the Jewish Museum’s exhibitions is provided by the Knapp Family Foundation.

Support of Ruth Patir: (M)otherland is provided by The Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation, the Melva Bucksbaum Fund for Contemporary Art, the Barbara S. Horowitz Contemporary Art Fund and other generous donors.

About the Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum explores the vibrancy of Jewish world culture through art. Located on New York City’s famed Museum Mile, in the landmarked Warburg Mansion, the Museum was the first institution of its kind in the United States and is among the oldest Jewish museums in the world. The Jewish Museum preserves a unique collection of more than 30,000 works of art, archaeology, and ceremonial objects, while presenting exhibitions that relate to the global Jewish experience over 3,500 years. Bridging past and present, the Jewish Museum explores cross-cultural influences and offers new insights into key narratives that shape the human experience.