Artist: Amar Kanwar

Serpentine presents a major solo exhibition of New Delhi-based artist and filmmaker Amar Kanwar (b. 1964, New Delhi, India), one of the most prominent artists working in moving image today.

For over two decades, Kanwar has developed a distinctive body of lyrical films that move between documentary, travelogue and visual essay to explore the specific conditions of the Indian subcontinent. Having produced and directed numerous films and multi-video installations, Kanwar’s poetic and contemplative works are frequently marked by the history of his country, tracing the legacies of decolonialisation and the Partition of India and Pakistan. Whilst charged with a regional specificity and deeply personal histories, Kanwar’s work grapples with some of the most pressing issues of our time. Reckoning with the past as a means to better comprehend the present, Kanwar bears witness to social upheaval, displacement, power, violence, justice and memory, ultimately revealing what unites – rather than differentiates – us, regardless of geography or context.

Within the darkened galleries, visitors will encounter a trilogy of transfixing films by Kanwar: the feature-length Such a Morning (2017), the multi-screen installation The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023), and a new multi-screen installation titled The Charcoal Man (2026), which will premiere at Serpentine.