Anna-Marie Gallares: I Carry It With Me
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art
Saturday 6 June - Friday 31 July 2026
I Carry It With Me is the first UK institutional solo exhibition by Anna-Marie Gallares, a Filipina artist based in Newcastle upon Tyne. The exhibition features two bodies of work, the monumental painted tapestry A Year In My Life in the central space and four recent large-scale paintings displayed on the exterior walls.
A Year In My Life was produced by Gallares for her BA Fine Art degree show in 2023. This marks the first time the tapestry has been exhibited publicly. Inspired by illustrative storytelling, Gallares’ 18ft tapestry is filled with striking and vivid patterns depicting 20 childhood memories from her first year in the UK. In celebration of her Filipino-British identity, Gallares’ tapestry also includes an array of Filipino tattoo designs, taking inspiration from 106-year-old Filipina tattoo artist Whang-od.
Three paintings made this year as part of Gallares’ Artist Futures Fund residency at University of Sunderland continue the artist’s exploration of their dual identity, childhood nostalgia and the fallibility of memory. The paintings depict prominent locations from Gallares’ early childhood, re-experienced during a recent family trip back to the Philippines.
Drawing the exhibition into the present day, a fourth painting captures the view from a bus stop in Cowgate, Newcastle, a place that has been woven into the artist’s everyday life over the past fifteen years.
This exhibition has been produced in partnership with University of Sunderland Fine Art.
Photos: Colin Davison