Amar Kanwar is an artist, born in New Delhi, India, in 1964, where he currently lives and works. Between the years 1982-1985, he did his bachelor’s in history from Delhi University and later between 1985-1987 completed his masters in Film and Communications from Jamia Millia Islamia’s Research Centre for Mass Communication in New Delhi. His films and multi-layered installations originate in narratives often drawn from zones of conflict and are characterised by a unique poetic approach to the personal, social and political.
Recent solo exhibitions of Kanwar’s work have been held at the Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai and NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, UAE (2020); Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2019); Tate Modern, London, and Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, USA (2018); Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden and Frac Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France (2017); Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai (2016), and at the Assam State Museum in collaboration with Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and North East Network, India (2015); Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2013-2014); the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK, and at the Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2012).
Kanwar has also participated in Documenta 11, 12, 13 and 14 in Kassel, Germany (2002, 2007, 2012, 2017). Other solo exhibitions have been at the Haus der Kunst, Munich and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008); the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK (2007); the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway (2006), and the Renaissance Society, Chicago, USA (2004).
Amar Kanwar has been the recipient of several awards including the 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).
