Amar Kanwar

Amar Kanwar was born in 1964 in New Delhi, India, where he currently lives and works.

Kanwar has distinguished himself through films and multi‐media works which explore the politics of power, violence and justice. His multi‐layered installations originate in narratives often drawn from zones of conflict and are characterized by a unique poetic approach to the personal, social and political.

Recent solo exhibitions of Kanwar's work have been held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2022); Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai, UAE and NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, UAE (2020), Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2019), Tate Modern, London; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, USA and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, USA (2018), Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden and Frac Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France (2017), Goethe Institut, Mumbai (2016) and at the Assam State Museum in collaboration with Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and North East Network, India (2015). Earlier solo exhibitions include the Art Institute of Chicago (2014), the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2013), the Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2012), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008), Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2007), National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo (2006), and the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2004). 

Kanwar has participated in Documenta 11, 12, 13 and 14 in Kassel, Germany (2002, 2007, 2012, 2017) as well as in the Kochi-Muziris Biennial, India (2022). In 2023 he will exhibit at the Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates.  

Amar Kanwar has been the recipient of several awards including the IHME Helsinki Commission 2022; Prince Claus Award (2017); Creative Time's Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change (2014); an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, Maine College of Art, USA (2006); the Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art, Norway (2005); the MacArthur Fellowship in India (2000); the Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, USA (1999), as well as the Golden Conch, Mumbai International Film Festival, India (1998).