Frieze LA

Frieze LA

For Frieze LA 2026, Dreamsong presents new work by Brooklyn-based artist Tamar Ettun (b. 1982) including multimedia wall-based assemblages and sculptures that expand on the artist’s practice through scientific collaborations and research into ancient healing rituals. Adapting the visual language inscribed on Babylonian incantation bowls used by artist-healers to trap demons, Ettun’s work centers and revamps the figure of Lilith, who was historically viewed as a threat to women’s reproductive health. Conceived in part as a rejoinder to contemporary taboos surrounding – and attacks on – reproductive health and freedoms, Ettun’s presentation looks to ancient trauma-healing rituals to reflect on experiences of contemporary maternity.

In collaboration with Harvard embryologist Yong Hyun Song, Ettun UV-printed groundbreaking images of embryos onto transparent Plexiglas. These enigmatic, pixelated images were created using a novel microscopy method to document embryos from the Ichilov IVF Center. This imaging technology, which holds significant potential for IVF treatment, renders the embryos as abstract, appearing like telescopic images of the cosmos. Ettun then layered these printed images over hand-dyed and stitched sailcloth collages embellished with syringes, matches, and sewing pins.

Mother of Otherness, a significant new soft sculpture referencing both Niki de Saint Phalle’s seminal Hon – en katedral (1966) and Ana Mendieta’s exploration of the ritual body and metaphoric womb, is also central to the presentation. Developed during Ettun’s 2025-2026 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Mother of Otherness is a life-sized soft sculpture that incorporates hand-dyed fabric, ceramic and found objects. This work emphasizes female agency and resilience in the face of gender-based oppression. Additional works include a series of wall-based ceramic masks, works on paper and Demon of Entanglement, a freestanding totem built with spools of thread, a ceramic visage and topped with a canister of long reaching matches.

Ettun’s materially peripatetic presentation channels personal history and ancient ritual practice into a visual vocabulary that explores the emotional and social complexities of reproductive healthcare and motherhood. The artist’s presentation is a timely reflection on ongoing American threats to women’s healthcare that bridges ancient healing practices with contemporary medical developments.