Amar Kanwar

Amar Kanwar is an Indian artist recognized for his poetic films and installations. Rather than following traditional documentary methods, Kanwar creates narratives that unfold gradually, using metaphor, symbolism, and lyrical imagery.

Kanwar’s films and installations often feature long silences, slow visuals, and ambient sound, inviting viewers to reflect deeply on the themes of state violence, gendered violence, displacement, and environmental destruction. Yet, they also highlight resistance, resilience, and the potential for justice through alternative knowledge and activism.

At the invitation of RHIZOMA, Amar Kanwar presented his most recent video installation for the first time in Europe.

In The Peacock’s Graveyard, Amar Kanwar crafts a poetic mediation on life, death and the enduring cycles of violence and resistance. Commissioned for the 15th Sharjah Biennial, this seven-screen video installation weaves together a series of powerful narratives, drawing on traditional storytelling, folklore, personal experience and comments on the prevailing atmosphere of totalitarianism and violence.

The 28-minute video installation comprises a collection of five fable-like stories divided over different sections moving across the exhibition screens. Immersed in the darkened exhibition room, viewers encounter a rich visual tapestry and lyrical images. Layered with text and shifting perspectives, these images invite quiet reflection on the impermanence of existence and the pervasive forces of greed and oppression.

With The Peacock’s Graveyard, Kanwar embraces an approach that draws on abstraction and poetic composition. The screening of images and short stories written by Kanwar provides an insight not only into the political climate we face, but also into the process of self-discovery and how one responds to their inner self.

By blending ancient philosophies with contemporary realities, Amar Kanwar creates an intimate and meditative space for contemplation and reflection, one that encourages viewers to pause and rethink their perception of unconventional wisdom as they explore new approaches to resistance, reconciliation and politics.

The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023)
Seven-screen digital video installation
28’ 16” (loop)