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 ...

★ ★ ★ ☆  ☆   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...

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 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...