An exhibition of works by Mani Kambo
Friday 21 November – Thursday 8 January 2026
Preview: Thursday 20 November 1730 – 2000 hrs
Sacred Symbols guide and connect us as humans with those who have been, are here, and will be. We expand and shrink back through cycles of birth, life and death, tethered together as part of a larger cosmos. Paths are cyclical in nature, symbollically connecting the human soul and it’s bond to the universe. these ethereal threads transform and transcend the fetters of our existence.
Rhythmic processes of knotting, tying, bending, and moving fabric in and out, connects the artworks to meditative practices, a pathway toward transcendence through making. Through repetitive motion, the act of creating becomes a physical manifestation of how gesture and action hold power. This energy embeds itself within each artwork. Visuals repeat like markers, and a metaphor for the spiritual belief in reincarnation. Each stitch a passage, each symbol a threshold.
Black and white oscillate as opposing forces: good and evil, light and dark, creation and destruction, being and non-being. Embroidery and textile relates to the caste system in India where generations of Kambo’s family are tailors, fabric printmakers and dyers. Rooted in an upbringing of superstition and protection, exploring origin myths and cosmological understanding, these works are Mani Kambo’s invocation of portals for divine protection and safe passage.
Mani Kambo is a multidisciplinary Artist primarily working in textile, print and moving image, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. She 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 . She focuses on objects, routines and rituals distilled both from the everyday and mythology . Through layering and editing images together she collages narratives and weaves dreamscapes.
Recent exhibitions and screenings include Ax•is Mun•di, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (2024-25), Harewood House Biennial: Create/Elevate (2024), Sudden Beams 2: Extraction, Platform Asia (2023) ‘Swimmers Limb’ Somerset House – Gallery 31 (2022), ‘Hinterlands’ Baltic (2022-23), ‘Jubilee’ V ane Gallery (2022) Womxn of Colour Art Award, Altitude, 198 Contemporary and Learning (2019). Kambo was recently a Arts Foundation Futures shortlisted Visual Artist (2025).
All Over Each Otter 