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...

★   ★   ★   ★ ★ By now it was approaching midday. The sky was clear, and the sheer number of cars and people always make cities that one fraction hotter. After stopping for a while on a bench in the east of Mayfair, I decided not to attempt any other close by contemporary art galleries. Instead, I made my mind up to head towards my final destination for the day, The Serpentine Gallery. In the heat, I traipsed through Hyde Park. The sun was high in the sky as I cut through, walking for a good half an hour through the grasslands, under the shaded boughs of trees, and past the grand Serpentine Lake. I stopped for food. On a sunny Friday the park was busy. Unable to find a shaded bench, I made camp under a nearby tree. After resting another while, I repacked my things and headed up to the South Gallery itself. Beginning to burn out – I now recognise in hindsight – I neglected to take notes on the gallery, and have since misplaced the written handouts I had taken. Instead,...

  ★   ★   ★   ★   ☆ 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 am, once again, in the Whitworth, finding it a midpoint on my commute home – the perfect opportunity to check out their new exhibition after work. Replacing the Shirley Craven exhibition – a personal favourite of mine – we now have the chance to see a handful of works by Malgorzata Mirga-Tas. Though the exhibition makes some peculiar choices, it reinforces the Whitworths position as a key venue for the presentation and preservation of textile art. Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, a Romani-Polish artist, presents a selection of their body of work. The exhibition is curated by Tate St Ives Director Anne Barlow, alongside The Whitworth’s Modern Contemporary curator Valentin Diakonov and Textiles Assistant Curator Victoria Hartley. Together, they have hung an oddly discontinuous exhibition which nevertheless uses the space well, allowing for a partially successful destigmatising, personalising and reclamatory show. Certain artworks by Mirga-Tas take often negative depic...

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ It is a short walk from the tram stop to Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre. The sky is clear, but the cold of the winter lingers in the mornings. I am visiting for a dual purpose. Firstly, for this review series. Secondly, to scope the place out for an interview the following week. While ultimately I didn’t get the job, it was a fun experience to run reconnaissance on the place – going more in depth on specific art works to prepare for a mock tour I was to be delivering. I had researched the institution before hand – its origin in the collections of paper merchant Wrigley, and its purpose-built building, with certain architectural quirks. Decals symbolising Manchester’s trades sit above in the rafters, glass tiles allow light into the lower floors, where the museum sits. Upstairs, Tina’s tea room. A healthy amount of patrons are sipping cups of tea and nibbling on slices of cake. The café is odd. It wraps around a central opening which looks back down to the ground f...