The Sovereign Forest
Amar Kanwar
THE SOVEREIGN FOREST
In collaboration with Sudhir Pattnaik / Samadrusti and Sherna Dastur
Dec 9, 2023 – March 31, 2024
Nepal Art Council
Babar Mahal
11am – 6pm | Open every day
Free and open to the public
Rooted in the socio-political landscape of Odisha, formerly Orissa, The Sovereign Forest emerges from extensive work in a region that has witnessed conflicts between local communities, government entities, and corporations over control of agricultural lands, forests, rivers, and mineral resources.
The forcible displacement of indigenous communities and peasants has been a brutal cycle of life in Odisha since the 1950s. In the past twenty five years, several mountain ranges, wildernesses, and agricultural lands have been sold or leased to mining cartels and other corporations for commercial use. A new economic regime allowed for the formal removal of legal and bureaucratic restrictions. The process of land acquisition became easier, and exacerbated the corrupt practices indulged in by political parties, government departments and the judiciary. A series of local resistances by peasants, fisher-folk and tribal communities emerged. Powered by autonomous local leaderships, primarily non-violent, stubbornly resilient, occasionally supported by urban activists, they have shared their experiences to enable a local discourse to emerge on development, industrialization and rehabilitation. This resistance has faced police repression or violence by local mafias hired by politicians or corporations. Examples of this include the movements resisting the bauxite and aluminium companies in Kashipur; against land acquisition by the Korean steel company POSCO and the industrial group TATA in Kalinganagar.
The Sovereign Forest serves as a thought-provoking exploration of our perceptions of crime, politics, human rights, and ecology. The validity of poetry as evidence in a trial, the discourse on seeing, on compassion, justice, and the determination of the self—all come together in a constellation of films, texts, books, photographs, seeds and processes.
!!Updates!! Free Guided Tours Schedule for March!!
Amar Kanwar‘s films and multi-media works explore the politics of power, violence and justice. His multi-layered installations originate in narratives often drawn from zones of conflict and are characterised by a poetic cinematic vocabulary that open up multiple layers of experience and comprehension. Recent solo and group exhibitions of Kanwar’s work have been held at Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2023); Sharjah Biennale 15, UAE (2023), Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kerala, India (2022); Castello Di Rivoli, Turin (2022), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2022); Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai (2020); NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2020) among others. Kanwar has participated in Documenta 11, 12, 13 and 14 in Kassel, Germany (2002, 2007, 2012, 2017). He has been the recipient of awards such as the Prince Claus Award (2017); 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 Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, USA (1999), as well as the Golden Conch, Mumbai International Film Festival, India (1998).
PRESS KIT: https://shorturl.at/ERW05
Credits:
FILMS
EDITING, SOUND DESIGN: Sameera Jain
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Dilip Varma
CINEMATOGRAPHY (THE PREDICTION): Amar Kanwar
SOUND RECORDIST (THE SCENE OF CRIME): Suresh Rajamani
PAPER, BOOKS & EXHIBITION DESIGN: Sherna Dastur
SEED ARCHIVE: Natabar Sarangi, Yubaraj Swain, Sibasish Ray
PHOTOGRAPHS: Tarun Kumar Mishra, Amar Kanwar, Amitabh Patra, Ajay TG
SAMADRUSTI COLLECTIVE AND FRIENDS
Bighneswar Sahu, Swayamprava Parhi, Urmila Acharya
Tarun Kumar Mishra, Sibasish Ray, Shubha Prasad Parida,
Pabitra Acharya, Laxmidhar Murmu, Umesh Biswal, Suresh Tripathy,
Bhaskar Paricha, Prof. Birendra Nayak, Debendra Sahu,
Neelamadhab Nayak, Bibhuti Rath, Prashant Paikray, Md. Ashlam,
Bijya Dwivedi, Amitabh Patra, Namita Sarangi, Neelamani Sahu,
Rajendra Bisoi, Purna Nayak, Kailash Sahoo
PRODUCTION
AK Studio: Prateek Shekhar, Arunima Tenzin Tara, Sanjay Uniyal
AV Technician: Simeon Corless
Assistant Technician: Tarkeshwar Manjhi
Paper made at: Nirupama Academy of Handmade Paper
Digital Books printed at: Sneh Enterprise
WITH GRATITUDE TO
Clare Lilley, Francesca Habsburg, Sandhini Poddar, Aseem Srivastava
PRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Samadrusti, Odisha; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna;
Centre Pompidou, Paris; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK;
Public Press, New Delhi and Documenta 13, Kassel
PHOTO.CIRCLE
Nepali Translation: Prawin Adhikari, Shashwat Acharya, Kriti Adhikari
Copy Editing and Proofreading: Rajendra Maharjan, Shashwat Acharya, Rochak Dahal
Production: Kishor Maharjan, Nishant Shilpakar, Revel Maharjan, Shikhar Bhattarai, Shristi Shrestha
Programming and Public Engagement: Iva Maharjan, NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, Sagar Chhetri, Shristi Shrestha
Education and Outreach: Niranjan Kunwar, Srijanalaya
Documentation Lead: Samagra Shah
The Sovereign Forest exhibition in Kathmandu is part of the IHME Helsinki Commission 2022, and produced by photo.circle with the support of Foundation for a Just Society.