Caleb White

★   ★   ★   ★  ☆  In the midst of dissertation writing, I have taken time out to visit the new exhibition at The Whitworth. Forming part of the 2025 Manchester International Festival, this is the first international solo exhibition of Uitoto artist Santiago Yahuarcani: ‘The Birth of Knowledge’. I enter from the west side of the gallery. The exhibition title is emblazoned large on the separating wall. Before engaging with the works, I make my way to a panel of text, seeking information on the artist and his work. Santiago Yahuarcani, born 1960, Pebas, Peru, is the leader of the Aimeni Clan of the Uitoto people. His work acts as a form of storytelling, using his art to keep the stories and beliefs of his people alive. Working with natural pigments, Yahuarcani paints on llanchama, a bark cloth made from the renadi tree. His goal, it seems, is to preserve indigenous knowledge and the Uitoto cosmology. The exhibition is stated to be organised thematically. Large ...

  ★   ★   ★   ★  ☆ Outside, despite the humidity, it is threatening to rain. The pavements are slick from a recent downpour, yet it is warm, very warm. I am back in Oxford (the closest thing I have to a stomping ground) and have dragged my parents along to explore ‘Movements for Staying Alive’ at Modern Art Oxford. I say dragged, but they’re willing participants. Modern Art Oxford being the location of my formative contemporary arts memories, it is always nice to see what is on. The exhibition – on display until September 7 – combines new commissions with 20 th century work, all designed to explore embodiment, movement, connection. The first artwork encountered one of the new commissions: Estampa’s Archival Corpus . A video, bisecting the room diagonally, shows AI mapped individuals working in an archive. The walls display images found in said archive, artificially grouped based on visual similarity, challenging visitors to investigate the connections and c...

  ★   ★   ★   ★   ☆ Around the corner, still in Mayfair, sat the JC Gallery. I initially passed by, but doubled back and entered. Currently on show, ‘Through the harrowed Land: Alfred Maurer and Modernism’. Taken by the bold, beautiful and pastoral landscape the gallery had decided to use, scaled up, as a banner, I entered. I was a touch soured by my previous gallery visit. However, the gallerist immediately greeted me, struck up polite conversation, and handed me a professionally bound copy of the exhibition materials. The gallerist in question was James Ward, Director of JC Gallery. While he busied about his own tasks – which included making himself a cup of tea – he made it clear that he was there if I had any questions. He even, after asking how long I was to be in London for, suggested some other recent openings and current exhibitions I should visit. JC Gallery specialises in American modernism between 1900-1950. Alfred Maurer, one such American Mode...

★   ★   ★   ★   ☆ I return to writing after a considerable hiatus with a small spree of contemporary arts exhibition reviews. The subjects of the following reviews were encountered in Mayfair on Friday 2 nd May. I am in London for a social occasion and, arriving early at Victoria Station, decide to beat the swealtering heat by ducking into a few exhibitions. Up first, ‘this, that and the other: Jacqueline Poncelet’ at Richard Saltoun. Shown between March 11 – May 3 – myself arriving on the penultimate day – this exhibition showcases an retrospective of Poncelet’s varied and impressive career. Poncelet’s work ranges from ceramics to watercolours, each of her works possessing innate character, rhythm and motion. I chose this exhbition as my starting point on the strength of the poster. On it, an image of her ceramic work ‘untitled no. 5’. Within the gallery space, two key sculptures were hidden in shaded alcoves. This bestowed them with an anthropomorphic presence, ...

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ After touring London and Edinburgh since 2023, Women in Revolt! – curated by Lindsey Young - arrives in Manchester at the Whitworth. This is the first time the exhibition has been free of charge.     Originally I had planned to visit Women in Revolt! with a friend, but the plans fell through, so here I am, camera in hand, back in the Whitworth. Living so close to the venue, I walk through Whitworth Park – it is a beautiful day – and take the back entrance into the gallery. I only mention this because one of the first things I encounter is a slice of text informing me that this is room 5 of 7, and that I should instead start from the entrance in the Special Collection’s Gallery. So, rather than interrupt the pre-determined flow, I track round and begin the exhibition again. By indicating a correct path, the gallery signals that this is – counter to my expectations – a social history exhibition through the lens of artists and their artworks. And this is i...

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Mere minutes away from where I currently live sits the Whitworth. After spending plenty of time there already, I was excited to visit their new exhibition, so set the morning that it opened to take it all in. I was not alone in this want, as, by 10:30, it was already pleasantly busy. A very skilfully curated and executed exhibition, 'Turner: In Light and Shade' is on display between Feb 7 - Nov 2 and is free to enter.  Image via Author Conclusions first, this time: The exhibition constantly plays the line between showcasing an impressive and engrossing body of work - through a comprehensive display of all 71 published mezzotint prints - and building a shrine to brilliance, which at times comes across as sycophantic. Perhaps sycophantic is too strong, yet, when approached critically, Turner is reified in his skill both as an artist and as a taskmaster. Nevertheless, the insight provided by both the breadth of the art displayed, and the manner in which it has been...