Amar Kanwar: From the fault lines. By Vandana Kalra
Early on in the
millennium, when art was still blue-chip in India, an Indian filmmaker was
invited to participate in the most prestigious contemporary art showcase. The
Nigerian art director of Documenta 2002, Okwui Enwezor, wanted to make the
festival truly global and present undiscovered but exceptional artists. Amar
Kanwar was one of them.
The unassuming
Delhi-based filmmaker was not a regular at the leading art galleries; nor the
toast of white cubes and art fairs. Instead, he was just becoming known outside
the experimental art circuit for his works that explored the inequalities of
the subcontinent. “There were artists who admired him, completely believed in
his work, but then there were also those who did wonder how he was at the
Documenta,” recalls Roobina Karode, director and chief curator of Kiran Nadar
Museum of Art.
Kanwar’s work at
Kassel was a befitting reply. His 77-minute film, A Night of Prophecy, recorded
the music and poetry of tragedy and pain. The artist-filmmaker had travelled
across India, from Andhra Pradesh to Kashmir, Maharashtra and Nagaland, to
weave poetic narratives that questioned the promise of democracy. Dalit writer
Prakash Jadhav’s powerful poem, Under Dadar Bridge, comes alive when a son
recalls asking his now deceased mother whether he was born Hindu or Muslim. His
mother replies, “You are an abandoned spark of the world’s lusty fires.” In
Nagaland, children sang of freedom, and a schoolteacher in Kashmir recited
verses as the screen moved from Kashmiri Pandits to graves of Kashmiri Muslims.
“It’s a film that has
a life of its own and lives beyond me now,” says Kanwar. Seated in his sparsely
furnished Saket studio, he has since then turned to poetry in several of his
narratives. The only Indian invited to show his work at four consecutive
Documenta editions, including last year, he is lauded for successfully blurring
the boundaries between cinema and art. “He has not only developed his own mode
of making videos but also given films an entirely new dimension. It is art in
every sense of the word. I don’t know anyone else of his kind in India,” says
veteran artist Gulammohammed Sheikh.
Kanwar has affirmed
his position as one of the world’s most politically discerning artists. Mounted
as multi-channel installations, his videos compel his audience to build their
own perceptions. He layers his chronicles with interviews and archival
material, poetry, prose and animated drawings. He informs his audience of the
different ways of viewing, just as his own art teacher did, at Delhi’s Air
Force School. “He asked us not to follow a prescribed template. All leaves are
not green, the sky didn’t always have to be blue,” he says.
What he saw as a
student of history in Ramjas College, Delhi also politicised him. Sikhs were
killed or maimed by murderous mobs seeking to avenge the assassination of then
PM Indira Gandhi in
1984. In that broken city, Kanwar assisted in relief work and participated in
campaigns demanding justice for the victims. “I was upset and shocked at the
brutality that followed against innocent citizens of my country, by the
complicity of the police and politicians in power in the killings. I was upset
by the protection that the killers received and still receive,” says Kanwar…
read more:
