Baltic Centre Opens Decolonial Group Exhibition 'Stepping Softly on the Earth'

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead presents 'Stepping Softly on the Earth,' a group exhibition opening November 18, 2023, featuring 20 mostly non-Western and Indigenous artists. The show explores human relationships to land and territory from decolonial and anti-colonial perspectives, framing the world as a pluriverse where all beings are interconnected. The title references a quote by Chief Seattle (c.1786–1866) revived by Ailton Krenak in his 2022 book 'Ancestral Future.' The exhibition includes new commissions by Naomi Rincón Gallardo (Mexico) and Leonel Vásquez (Colombia). Rincón Gallardo's film 'Eclipse' (2023) concludes her Tzitzimime trilogy, drawing on Aztec mythology. Vásquez's 'Templo del agua' (Water Temple) is a living sculptural installation using water resonance for collective meditation. Other highlights include Tizintizwa's 'Seasonal Work Song' (2023) about agricultural workers in Morocco's Atlas Mountains, and Dharmendra Prasad's Harvest Books from Bihar. The project received a British Council International Collaboration Grant in 2022, partnering with CAPC (Bordeaux), La Escocesa (Barcelona), Más Arte Mas Acción (Colombia), and Pivô (São Paulo). Many artworks are shown in the UK for the first time.