Amar Kanwar

Indian artist Amar Kanwar creates documentary-based multi-channel installations that deal with the politics of power, violence, sexuality, and justice. In The Torn First Pages, Kanwar unfolds the struggle for democracy in Myanmar. The eight-channel video piece The Lightning Testimoniesreflects upon a history of conflict in the Indian subcontinent through the experiences of sexual violence against women during and after the 1947 partition. Kanwar’s work has been shown in museums across the globe, from the Museum of Modern Art in Istanbul to Marian Goodman Gallery in New York, Apeejay Media Gallery in New Delhi, and Museum for Contemporary Art, Biennale of Sydney, in Australia.

Respondent: Bish Sanyal, Ford International Professor of Urban Development & Planning, MIT (USA)