Amar Kanwar
Over three decades, New Delhi-based artist and filmmaker Amar Kanwar has developed a distinctive body of lyrical films and multi-video installations that move between documentary, travelogue and visual essay. This major solo exhibition unfolds as a site-specific installation, bringing together new and existing films to transform Serpentine North into a meditative visual and sonic environment.
Shaped by the history of the Indian subcontinent, Kanwar frequently draws on lived experience to investigate the enduring legacies of decolonisation and the 1947 Partition, which led to the creation of India, Pakistan and eventually Bangladesh. In his films, Kanwar bears witness to social upheaval, displacement, power, violence, arrogance, justice and memory. Reckoning with the past to better comprehend the urgencies of the present, he reveals what unites us, regardless of geography or context.
Within the darkened galleries, visitors will encounter a trilogy of films by Kanwar: the feature-length Such a Morning (2017), the multi-screen installation The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023), and a new seven-screen installation titled The Charcoal Man (2026), which makes its premiere at Serpentine.
Amar Kanwar is curated in close collaboration with the artist by Chris Bayley, Exhibitions Curator, with Kit Gurnos, Assistant Exhibitions Curator.
Artist Bio
Amar Kanwar (b. 1964, New Delhi, India) is an artist and filmmaker. Select solo exhibitions of his work have been at Palazzo Grassi-Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy (2026); Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, USA (2024); photo.circle, Kathmandu, Nepal (2023); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (2022); Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain (2019); Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India (2019); Tate Modern, London, UK (2018); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, USA (2018); Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden (2017); Le Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France (2016); Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai, India (2016); NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore (2016); Assam State Museum in collaboration with Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi and North East Network, India (2015); The Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2014); and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK (2013).
Kanwar’s work has been included in numerous group exhibitions and biennales including at Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan (2026); Shanghai Biennale, China (2026); Rhizoma, International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Kasterlee, Belgium (2025); M+, Hong Kong (2024); The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2023); Sharjah Biennial, UAE (2023, 2013, 2011); Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2022, 2013); and documenta 11, 12, 13 and 14 in Kassel, Germany (2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017). He is the recipient of several awards including an Honourable Mention at the Sharjah Biennial (2023); 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); Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art, Norway (2005); MacArthur Fellowship in India (2000); Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, USA (1999); and the Golden Conch, Mumbai International Film Festival, India (1998).
