Opening on 7 December 2024, Mani Kambo’s solo show at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead is a major new commission and will be the artist’s first institutional exhibition.
A multidisciplinary artist, Mani Kambo is based in Newcastle upon Tyne and explores the inner spirit by drawing on her own personal totemic symbols.
Influenced by her upbringing in a household filled with superstition, prayer, and religious ceremony, Kambo’s practice encompasses textiles, fabric dying and printmaking, and is rooted in her South Asian family history.
Kambo questions routines, objects and rituals distilled in the everyday and mythology. She is interested in the human soul and its connection to the cosmos, taking inspiration from the Latin phrase ‘axis mundi’. Translating to ‘world axis’, the phrase has become a common symbol in many religions and regions, and for Kambo it represents a vertical bridge between heaven and earth, connecting the surface of the earth to the underworld and the heavens.
Her work records movement, and documents performative actions – the hand that creates the action, fire that reveals, water which is the purifier, and eyes that perceive – through the exploration of totemic objects and symbols.
Through layering and editing images together she collages narratives and weaves dreamscapes. These visuals are repeated throughout her work like markers linking to notions of spirituality and belief in reincarnation.
Kambo embarked on a seven-month residency at Baltic, exploring new mediums and creating an entirely new body of work comprising textiles, wood engraving and symbolism.
The exhibition in Baltic’s Level 2 gallery will act as an infinite space and audiences will be guided through its metaphysical environment, where symbolic works correspond to our own thoughts and consciousness.
The artist residency was conceived as part of Baltic’s Artist Development Programme and has provided Kambo with a studio, curatorial and technical support and access to Baltic’s facilities. Baltic’s Artist Development Programme was established in 2022 and offers learning and developmental support for artists and curators working across the North East of England.
