Petah Tikva (2020) is a short video by Ruth Patir in which ancient Judean Pillar Figurines wait in a present-day fertility clinic—leafing through magazines and reacting to screens. I animated the figurines by hand, shaping their body language and expressions to evoke everyday gestures of waiting.

Alongside them, strange animal figures—based on Chalcolithic artifacts—appear on screens and roam the scene, echoing recent news footage of wild boars in Israeli cities. These intrusions of nature unsettle the sterile space, adding a surreal layer that links past, present, and primal instinct.

The work reflects on cultural pressures around fertility in Israel, blending personal, political, and archaeological time into one quietly absurd tableau.

As a sole animator on the project I oversaw every aspect of the film.