Amar Kanwar (born 1964) is an Indian filmmaker. His work challenges the limits of the medium in order to create complex narratives traversing several terrains such as labour and indigenous rights,

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

religious fundamentalism Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...

and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

Early life and career

Kanwar was born in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

in 1964 where he continues to live and work as a filmmaker. Kanwar studied at the Department of History,

Ramjas College Ramjas College is one of the oldest constituent colleges of the University of Delhi, located in its North Campus in New Delhi, India. It was founded by the great educationist and philanthropist Rai Kedar Nath with the aim of providing affordab ...

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

(1982-1985), and at the Mass Communication Research Center,

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

, New Delhi (1985–87). After making a few films, Kanwar joined the

People's Science Institute The People's Science Institute is a non-governmental organization in Dehradun, which promote natural resource management, conservation biology, and sustainable development. It was established in 1988. Founding The stated mission of the organiz ...

in 1988 as a researcher on occupational health and safety in the

coal-mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

belt of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

in central India. He returned to

filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

in 1990, and his films were then shown primarily in public campaigns, community spaces and film festivals in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and across the world. In 2002, Kanwar was invited to exhibit at Documenta 11 in Kassel whereupon his work has also been presented in several art exhibitions and museums. Connecting with diverse audiences, in multiple public spaces, Kanwar also participated in the next three editions of the Documenta exhibition in 2007, 2012 and 2017. He has been an eminent voice in film and art for the past two decades. Kanwar was one of the three curators for

Istanbul Biennial The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Istanbul Biennial p ...

2021.

Key works

His key works have been ''A Season Outside'', a reflective essay on

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

; ''A Night of Prophecy'' on the poetry of resistance; the multiple projection installations ''The Lightning Testimonies'' about

sexual violence Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted Human sexual activity, sexual act, an attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion, or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of ...

in public conflicts; and ''The Torn First Pages'' on the Burmese democracy movement. Kanwar's recent work, ''The Sovereign Forest'' (2012 – ongoing) is a profound interrogation of the politics of violence and

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

. Initiating a creative response to our understanding of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, and ecology, it engages viewers in manifold ways of seeing and comprehending as it presents a set of propositions that investigates the notion of "poetry as evidence"; and ''Such a Morning'', a modern parable about two people’s quiet engagement with truth. In 2018, Kanwar was part of the selection committee that nominated

Ruangrupa Ruangrupa, stylised as ruangrupa and abbreviated as ruru, is a contemporary art collective based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Founded in 2000 by a group of seven artists, ruangrupa provided a platform in South Jakarta for organising exhibitions, events, ...

as artistic director of

Documenta fifteen Documenta fifteen, stylized as documenta fifteen, is the 15th edition of Documenta, a major international contemporary art exhibition held every five years in Kassel, Germany. The Indonesian art collective ruangrupa served as artistic directo ...

The Sovereign Forest

Kanwar addresses the overtaking and destruction of indigenous land in his most extensive mixed media installation "The Sovereign Forest," including films, projections on handmade books, seeds, and photographs. He tells the story from the perspective of farmers, fishermen, citizens, and victims of violence: what did they lose with the land during the industrial and governmental overtaking of Odisha, India? In one section of his installation, he arranges 272 varieties of indigenous rice seeds, collected and preserved by a local farmer of Odisha. Kanwar acknowledges that the agriculture on the land was not used just for survival, but that the seeds had different personalities, flavors, meanings to the farmers and people who lived there. He writes: "Farmers have always named their seeds. They have people names. Often of loved ones. Like children." Kanwar highlights the landscape of Odisha just before it began to be erased, showing the beauty and value of what was unjustly taken away.

Awards

Kanwar has received several awards for his work as a filmmaker and artist, including th
IHME Helsinki
Commission (2022);

Prince Claus Award The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996 and named after Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It is annually subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 1997, the Fund has annually presented the international Prince Claus Awa ...

(2017); Golden Gate at the

San Francisco Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by SFFILM, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and vi ...

(1999); the Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art, Norway (2005); and Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change (2014). Other awards have been Best Public Service Short Film at Vatavaran International Environment Film Festival, New Delhi (2012); Best Film Award at One Billion Eyes Film Festival, Chennai (2011); Jury Special Mention at One Billion Eyes Film Festival, Chennai (2009); Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts,

Maine College of Art Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) is a Private college, private art school in Portland, Maine. Founded in 1882, Maine College of Art & Design is the oldest arts educational institution in Maine. Roughly 32% of MECA&D students are from Maine. ...

, USA (2006); Certificate of Merit at San Francisco International Film Festival, California, USA (2002); Golden Tree Award at Vatavaran, National Environment & Wildlife Film Festival, New Delhi (2002); The Grand Prix, EnviroFilm, Slovak Republic (2002); National Jury Award at

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Infor ...

, India (2002); The First Prize at Torino International Environment Film Festival, Italy (2002); Jury's Award at Film South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal (2001);

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

, India (2000); Golden Orange Award at 36th

Antalya International Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most important film festival in Turkey. Since 2009, t ...

, Turkey (1999) and the Golden Conch Award at

, India (1998).

Exhibitions

Recent solo exhibitions of Kanwar's work have been held at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York (2022)
Ishara Art Foundation
Dubai (2020)
NYUAD Art Gallery
Abu Dhabi (2020); Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2019);

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, London (2018);

Bildmuseet Bildmuseet () is a contemporary art museum in Umeå, northern Sweden. History The museum was founded in 1981 by Umeå University and it exhibits Swedish and international contemporary art, visual culture, design, and architecture, sometimes alo ...

, Umea University, Sweden (2017 - 2018);

Goethe Institut The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a nonprofit German cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural ...

/Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai (2016) and at the

Assam State Museum The Assam State Museum, previously Assam Provincial Museum, is located in the southern end of Dighalipukhuri tank which is in the heart of Guwahati city, Assam. The Museum was established by the Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti (Assam Research Socie ...

in collaboration with

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) is a private modern and contemporary art museum with locations in New Delhi and Noida. Established in 2010, it is India's first private museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art. History The museum s ...

and North East Network, India (2015). In 2013 and 2014 at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, USA; the

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barb ...

, U.K.; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA 21), Vienna, Austria and at the

Fotomuseum Winterthur Fotomuseum Winterthur is a museum of photography in Winterthur, Switzerland. History The museum was founded in 1993 by photographer George Reinhart, the nephew of the wealthy Swiss art collector Oskar Reinhart. ''Fotomuseum''s exabits are dedicat ...

, Switzerland (2012). Recent group exhibitions have been presented at

Castello Di Rivoli The Rivoli Castle is a former Residence of the Royal House of Savoy in Rivoli (Metropolitan City of Turin, Italy). It is currently home to the Castello di Rivoli – Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, the museum of contemporary art of Turin. In 1997, ...

, Turin (2022);

Documenta 14 Documenta 14 was the fourteenth edition of the art exhibition documenta which took place in 2017 in both Kassel, Germany, its traditional home, and Athens, Greece. It was held first in Athens from 8 April to 16 July, and in Kassel from 10 Ju ...

, Athens and Kassel (2017); The Garden Sees, Megaron, Athens (2017); #Resist, Goethe-Gallery & Black Box Studio, Hong Kong (2017); the Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou (2016); the Devi Art Foundation with

Salima Hashmi Salima Hashmi (; born 1942) is a Pakistani painter, artist, former college professor, anti-nuclear weapons activist and former caretaker minister in Sethi caretaker ministry. She has served for four years as a professor and the dean of Nationa ...

, New Delhi (2016); MDE'15, Colombia (2015);

Kemper Art Museum The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is an art museum located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, within the university's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Founded in 1881 as the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts, it w ...

, St. Louis, USA (2014);

, New Delhi, India (2014); 56th

Carnegie International The Carnegie International is a North American exhibition of contemporary art from around the globe. It was first organized at the behest of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on November 5, 1896, in Pittsburgh. Carnegie established ...

, USA (2013);

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: * The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Ne ...

, New York, USA (2013 and 2012); 13th

, Turkey (2013); 5th

Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art is one of the most important Russian cultural events and was founded in 2003. First Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art The First Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (January 28 – February 28, 2005) ca ...

, Russia (2013); 11th and 15th

Sharjah Biennale The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Cu ...

, UAE (2013, 2023); 1st Kochi Biennale, India (2013); Tarra Warra Museum of Art, Victoria, Australia (2013) and the

Bristol Museum Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, Bristol, Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture and Creative Industries it is run by the Bristol Cit ...

, U.K. (2013). Kanwar has also participated in Documenta 11, 12 and 13 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, Germany (2002, 2007, 2012). Other solo exhibitions have been at the

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2008); Haus der Kundst, Munich, Germany (2008); the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

, London, U.K. (2007); the

National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design The National Museum (, officially the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design) is a museum in Oslo, Norway which holds the Norwegian state's public collection of art, architecture, and design objects. The collection totals over 400,000 w ...

, Oslo, Norway (2006) and the

Renaissance Society The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...

, Chicago, USA (2004)."Renaissance Society presents Amar Kanwar"
''www-news.uchicago.edu''.

Retrospectives

Retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

s of his films have been held at

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

s including the 5th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Kerala State (2012); the 13th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival (2011); the Documentary Dream Show, Tokyo (2010); the Parallel Perspectives Film Festival, Hyderabad (2008); and the 9th International Short Film Festival, Bangladesh (2005).

Selected works

*Such a Morning (2017) *''The Sovereign Forest'' (2011-2015) which includes films ‘''A Love Story''’, (2010) and ‘''The Scene of Crime''’ (2011) *''The Commons'' (2011) *''The Torn First Pages'' Part I, II and III (2004-2008) which includes films '''The Face (2004) ''‘Thet Win Aung’'' (2004) ''‘Ma Win Maw Oo’'' (2004) ''‘The Bodhi Tree’'' (2004) and ''‘Somewhere in May’'' (2005) *''The Lightning Testimonies'' (2007) *''Henningsvaer'' (2006) *''To Remember'' (2003) *''A Night of Prophecy'' (2002) *''Azaadi/ Freedom'' (2002) *''King of Dreams'' (2001) *''Baphlimali 173'' (2001) *''The Many Faces of Madness'' (2000) *''A Season Outside'' (1997) *''Marubhumi'' (1996) *''Earth as Witness'' (1994) *''Talash'' (1993) *''The Leather Trilogy'' (1992) *''Lal Hara Lehrake'' (1992)

References

http://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/amar-kanwar-5058699/