Mani Kambo Audio Description Script

Mani Kambo: Axis Mundi

Audio Description
The exhibition Axis Mundi by Mani Kambo is on level 2. 

As you step out of the lift, straight ahead, is a high and wide wall painted a warm terracotta colour and the entrance to the gallery is on the left-hand side.  To the right of the entrance, in large black letters, is the title-  

Mani Kambo, Axis Mundi. 
7 December 2024 – 15 June 2025

To the right of this, in the middle of the wall, is a TV sized screen that plays a video giving information about the exhibition. There are 7 relief works of varying symbols, snakes, eyes, spirals, key holes and 6-pointed stars on the wall, in the same warm terracotta colour.  

Moving through the doorway into the gallery the walls are the same colour as the entrance wall which creates a warm space that contrast the strong black and white artworks found in the exhibition, unifying the pieces in the gallery making them feel like one cohesive unit.   

There are a series of artworks on the walls around the gallery and 5 long applique banners hang from 5 meters high down to the floor in a circle at the centre.   

To the right-hand side of the entrance is the introduction to the exhibition in black letters on the terracotta wall.   

There is a QR code at the bottom of the introduction to scan for further information.

This is a summary of the introduction:  

‘In her first solo institutional exhibition Mani Kambo presents a series of new works commissioned by Baltic…Based in Newcastle upon Tyne Kambo explores the inner spirit by drawing on her own personal totemic symbols.  The artist’s practise is rooted in her family's history within the caste system and influenced by her upbringing in a household filled with superstition, prayer and religious ceremony.’ 

The notes explain the title - ‘Axis Mundi translates to world axis or centre of the world …for Kambo, it symbolises everything in balance, a pivot point connecting above and below, heaven and earth.  Her work explores the cyclical nature of paths, the human soul and its bond to the cosmos and the ethereal threads that transform and transcend the fetters of our existence.’ 

The exhibition text tells us that the artworks on the gallery walls relate to the banners at the centre, as they ‘guide visitors ever onwards towards the centre to 5 new textile banners emblazoned with arcane symbols and iconography, their mysteries waiting to be unravelled.’ 

This description will guide visitors around the gallery walls in a clockwise direction leading to the banners at the centre. 

Wall 1

On the wall that runs down on the left-hand side from the entrance there are 7 black and white artworks fixed in a line at about chest height. Symbols are painted in clear lines on different shaped wooden plaques.  Some are roughly circular, about the size of a large dinner plate.   

Each plaque has a black background and contains a different symbol painted in white.  A thin white line around the edge creates a border that frames the design within. 

The symbol in the first plaque we reach in the line is an eye, followed by a snake, a spiral, a pair of hands, entwined lines, phases of the sun, and a star and maze. 

The Eye 

The first plaque is circular.  In the middle is an eye painted white on black with an almond-shaped outline and a large iris. It is positioned in the centre of the plaque.  A mesh of curved lines surrounds the eye like a cobweb. 

Large dots are painted above and below the eye.  

The Snake

Next is a 6-sided plaque. 2 long sides finish with 2 short triangles that point at the top and bottom. Four circles bulge half in and half out acrosseach of the short lines to the top and bottom.These are painted in the phases of the moon, one dark moon, 2 half-moons and a full moon. 

Starkly, in the centre of the plaque, lies a white snake inside a white oval borderline. The snake points the tip of its tail up to heaven and its head down to the earth, its body is coiled like a meandering river. 

The Spiral

Next is an octagon plaque with 8 equal sides.The plaque has 4 circles that protrude slightly above the flat sides of the plaque edges, one at each corner. These extend inwards into full circles that are painted into half-moons in black and white. 

The spiral is on a large white circle in the middle of the plaque. A single black line crosses the white border at the bottom and travels into the circle. The line draws a large loop that spirals inwards then spirals back out from the centre and runs straight up and exits at the top. 

The Pair of Hands

The middle plaque is circular and two semi-circles extend outside the plaque edge at the top and the bottom. These extend into full circles on the plaque. The top circle is white with black rays emanating from a black sun.  The bottom circle is black, filled with a white sun emanating white rays. 

The pair of hands are white on a black background and fill the centre of the plaque.  Long fingers point upwards, and the thumbs point out to the sides showing the palms of the open hands. 

The Entwined Lines

The next plaque is the shape of an arched window. 

A pair of lines entwine from bottom to top.  The 2 white waving lines cross each other four times, creating the appearance of a pillar from heaven to earth.   

Symbols are painted in the gaps where the curving lines cross.  

In the middle section is a white dot.  

In the section above is a black keyhole and below a white keyhole.  

Behind the woven pillar, around the central dot, 3 concentric circles radiate like a ripple across the black background. 

Phases of the Sun

The next plaque is cut like a squat figure 8 with two circles drawn so the top of the lower circle goes through the middle of the higher circle.  

The white border lines on each circle neatly cut through the middle of the other circle. At the centre of each circle is a heavenly symbol.  In the centre of the top circle is a full sun.  

In the bottom circle the sun is eclipsed with a small white moon surrounded by a black line with the sun’s rays behind. 

Large white dots are positioned at the top and bottom of the plaque. 

The Star and Maze

This plaque has a circular frame honed down to create 9 flat sides.  

A large 9-armed star extends to the edges of the plaque.   

A smaller 9-sided black flower shape covers the centre of the star.  Inside this black flower there's a circular maze with an entrance at the bottom. A white line weaves around the black background creating an intricate maze before exiting at the top. 

Wall 2

Moving down to the bottom wall there are 9 dark grey, almost black artworks displayed side by side on a shallow shelf, in the same warm terracotta colour. These are smaller hand sized rectangular tablets with singular symbolic designs carved into them.  The tablets are all the same dark grey colour with black, laser cut designs at the centre. There is a thin, black border line around the edge of each tablet. 

The first tablet we reach in a clockwise direction has a single right-hand palm up and the tablet at the other end has a single left-hand, palm up.  The central tablet design is 2 hands, palms up, with thumbs sticking out to the sides. 

The full order of the symbols from left to right is, a right hand, a full sun, the snake, the eye and the two hands in the middle.  Then a coiled maze, a keyhole, the dark sun and finally a left hand. 

Wall 3

Turning the corner to head back towards the entrance there is a small grey stone that might fit in the palm of your hand. This is balanced on a narrow shelf on the wall at below knee height. This is the first in a short trail of grey stones that lead up to the entrance wall.  

The first stone is laser engraved with a hand symbol.   

The next stone sits on the floor against the wall at about halfway and has a sun symbol.  

Then, close to the top corner there is a stone engraved with an eye, placed 3 feet out from the wall.  This stone sits on the end of a coiled woven rope.  Thick black and white threads are entwined to make a flat striped ribbon of rope laid on the floor that winds twice around the stone then lifts straight up to the ceiling.  

Finally, a small pile of 9 or 10 stones, each engraved with an eye,  

balances close to the entrance door near to the introductory notes. 

Wall 4

The top wall, that leads back to the entrance doorway, has a collection of 9 knotted designs in black and white cord arranged across the centre of the wall in a triangular pattern that points upwards. 

The knot designs are a mixture of traditional and the artist’s own designs.  In some a short cord runs down into a wheel shape like a pendulum, or a drop of rain.  

In others a looped pattern is shaped like a knotted bread loaf or an open patterned, old fashioned, carpet beater and the cord ends hang down on either side like rain falling from a cloud.   

3 are black and 3 are white. 4 are created from a mix of black and white cord woven together that from a distance appear grey. 

The Banners

At the centre of the gallery 5 black banners hang from a 3.5-meter-wide steel ring suspended from the ceiling.  The banners are 5 meters high and 1.2 meters wide with equal gaps between.  They aredecorated with bold white and gold applique patterns.  The patterns are the same on the inside of the banner as the outside. 

Walking around the outside of the circle the applique patterns are striking.  The gold and white colours on the black banners glow under the spotlights and draw you in towards the centre.   

Inside the banner circle a steel pendulum, shaped like an inverted teardrop, hangs high above the centre of a round steel bench on the floor beneath.   

The bench is a steel circular disc, 1.4 meters wide, on a bowl-shaped base.  Its metal surface is smooth and dark grey with a dish-shaped indentation at the centre about 40 cms wide.   

The steel sculpture-like bench is designed as a seat that visitors are welcome to use.  Placed in the dish indentation is a loose collection of small, laser cut wooden hands, each 2.5 centimetres.  The hand has the same long tapering fingers, open palm and sideways thumb as the symbols. Visitors are invited to take one of the hands to keep if they wish.   

Once inside the circle the images on the banners begin to work together showing their relationships in juxtaposition. 

Facing towards the gallery entrance from inside the banner circle there's a banner with white entwined lines. The lines arc in from the bottom corners around a pale half-moon then narrow where they meet and rise the full 5 metres crossing six times before parting to reach around a golden half sun at the top of the banner. 

Weaved behind and through the tower of crossed lines are a chain of 4 gold rings. At the bottom on either side of the crossed lines are 2 hands, and at the top, 2 keyholes. 

The banners on either side of the first banner explore paths from earth to heaven. The left one has an arched line that swoops up from its bottom right corner to the top right corner.   

The banner on the right provides a mirror image with an arched line from its bottom left corner to the top left corner. 

Together they create a symmetrical pattern like a pair of brackets embracing the banner between. 

The banner on the left has 8 eye symbols that run from bottom to top inside the arched line, alongside a line of gold dashes following the track up.  There’s a silver star in the bottom left corner and a golden sun at the top.   

In the banner to the right, 8 hands run from bottom to top inside the arched line alongside a line of gold dashes, and there is a golden moon at the bottom and a white moon at the top. 

The 2 remaining banners also make connection between earth and heaven. 1 traces a line from the bottom to the top that travels past 2 large heavenly bodies. 

In the bottom half of the banner a white semicircle loops from left to right and back.  In the centre is a golden sun cut in half from top to bottom by the banner edge.  A white moon eclipses the centre of the sun with a broad black line around it and golden sun rays on the outside. At the top a gold semicircle swoops round from the right with a gold moon at the centre and white sun rays from behind. 

A single white line travels from the bottom right corner to the top left corner.  A white orb sits on this line at the centre between the two suns.  A white line trails from the white moon and a golden line trails from the golden moon. 

The last banner follows 3 white lines that travel up to a golden spiral at the top. The lines from the bottom of the banner converge behind three circles.  The bottom circle is gold with a black keyhole.   

The middle circle is white, and larger, with a black snake.  

The upper circle is gold and the same size as the first circle and contains a star with 10 arms.   

This takes us 2/3rds of the way up the banner. The outer 2 lines then separate and disappear off each side of the banner.  The middle line flows up to a golden spiral at the top and finishes with a white orb at the centre of the spiral. 

The artworks on the walls can be spied in the gaps between the banners and echo the symbols on the banners within the circle.  

For instance-   

The wall of weaved knots is outside the banner with entwined lines.  

The ten-armed star plaque can be seen through the side of the 2 large suns. 

This is the end of the audio description. 

There will be a Baltic Crew member in the gallery who can assist you with any questions. 

The entrance to the gallery is also the exit.