Kiya Tadele, creative director of Yatreda ያጥሬዳ, a family-based collective of artists from Ethiopia.
Cactoid Labs + The Los Angeles County Museum of Art are pleased to present Yatreda: The True Cross, Vol. 7 of the Remembrance of Things Future initiative. Selecting a 13th century bronze Ethiopian cross in LACMA's collection as a touchstone, Yatreda, a family-based collective of artists from Ethiopia led by creative director Kiya Tadele, has created a unique set of four new digital art works, including her longest film to date.
Bridging historical artifacts with living history, this project transforms a historic cross from a static museum object into a living visual narrative, reaffirming how legends endure through modern artisans.
Cross, Ethiopia, Zagwe dynasty, 13th-14th century, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Widely celebrated for their stunning black and white motion portraits rooted in Ethiopian mythology, Yatreda was immediately drawn to a Zagwe Dynasty bronze in LACMA's encyclopedic collection.
"Every year in Ethiopia we celebrate Meskel, an annual tradition where we honor the finding of the True Cross. The legend dates to the 4th century when Empress Eleni (known as Empress Helena in the West, the mother of Emperor Constantine) received a divine vision leading her to discover the hiding place of the crosses used at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As the Meskel story goes, Empress Eleni's vision instructed her to light a demera (a large bonfire) and follow the smoke to uncover the relics of the True Cross, buried beneath the earth for centuries."
Yatreda, Revelation of the Empress, 2025. Single channel video. Runtime 16 minutes.
Revelation of the Empress, Yatreda's longest film to date, is a single-shot, 16-minute continuous piece–a sort of prequel to the historic cross in LACMA's collection and an artistic tour de force. "The cross is a living symbol that connects ancient prophecy to how we practice faith today. By going back to the vision that started it all, we show how legends breathe through time, through our hands, into tomorrow."
Yatreda, Path of the Demera, 2025, Single channel video.
Yatreda's motion portrait Path of the Demera explores the idea of Empress Eleni's vision taking the form of the smoke she must follow in her quest to find the hidden relics.
Yatreda, Unearthing the Relic, 2025, Single channel video.
In Yatreda's motion portrait Unearthing the Relic, Empress Eleni's mystical smoke leads to finding a physical piece of the wooden cross buried in the earth, as the idea of the True Cross becomes more solid yet still lost in time.
Yatreda, Guiding Light, 2025, Single channel video.
"Linking the past to the present, Guiding Light shows the metal cross as it used it today, strong and permanent, to carry our faith forward."
Yatreda Interview with Dhyandra Lawson, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, LACMA
Fusing tradition and innovation, Yatreda mints their artwork on the blockchain, employing a 21st-century digital approach to preserving history. The blockchain's peer-to-peer, shared online record of transactions enables them to immortalize legends for eternity, reflecting their mission to rediscover Africa's original self once again.
An intimate series of four unique works, each of Yatreda's digital motion portraits created in collaboration with LACMA and Cactoid Labs are released as full resolution NFTs and accompanied as well by archivally printed framed photographs.
