The totemic language of artist Mani Kambo is explored in a new exhibition at the Dead Dog Gallery in Durham.

I managed to catch an exhibition by Mani Kambo at BALTIC in 2024, and it’s great news that this multidisciplinary artist from Newcastle has another show in the offing – this time at the Dead Dog Gallery at Durham Sixth Form Centre. She works across the tactile realms of textile, print, and moving image, and explores the “inner spirit” through a sophisticated visual language of personal and totemic symbols. Kambo’s practice is deeply rooted in an upbringing steeped in superstition and mythological narratives, and in this collection, entitled ‘Cut, Coiled, Carried’, she distils everyday routines into evocative forms, using the stark contrast of black and white as a framework for duality. The works serve as an exploration of opposing forces: light and dark, creation and destruction, and presence and absence; and within these shifting thresholds, sacred symbols act as guides for the viewer. The exhibition is uniquely tied to its location, with many pieces initiated in situ at Durham Sixth Form Centre. Here, Kambo employs highly tactile, process-driven methods – the pressing of clay, the rhythmic threading of a needle, and the controlled burn of laser-cut wood. By utilizing fire, a historical tool for divination, she transforms materials into sites of resonance and meaning. These deliberate gestures of knotting, bending, and cutting are described as meditative acts that embed intention into every fibre. The result is a form of artistic alchemy that bridges the gap between maker and viewer.

Mani Kambo: Cut, Coiled, Carried, exhibition preview Friday 12 June, 5-7pm. Exhibition runs to Friday 17 July. Dead Dog Gallery, Durham Sixth Form Centre, Providence Row, The Sands, Durham. Open Thursday and Fridays 9.30am-3.30pm (excluding school holidays). 

manikambo.co.uk