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Journalism of Courage
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This is an archive article published on October 28, 2013
Eyes on Ground Zero
Filmmaker and artist,Amar Kanwar on his socio-political works and his latest exhibition at Documenta in the UK.
Housed in a Georgian sandstone chapel at the Bretton Estate in the UK,a 19th-century organ would have been a part of grand ceremonies. Now,it has attained a new lease of life in the form of benches designed by artist and filmmaker Amar Kanwar. Produced from recycled timber of the organ,these allow for contemplation while overlooking Bretton Estate and the nearby coalfields. Kanwars first sculptural object for the open air,the work is a part of his first major exhibition in the UK. It takes forward his decade-long engagement with The Sovereign Forest (TSF) that explores the social and environmental impact of mining on the local community in Orissa. The 49-year-old questions the role of an artist in this scenario,soliciting feedback from his audience at Samadrusti campus in Bhubaneswar,where the project has been on permanent display since August 2012. Kanwar has participated in three consecutive exhibitions at the prestigious Documenta festival in the UK. Excerpts from an interview:
Do you think TSF is resonant to Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP),which is established on coalfields and is surrounded by former mining communities?<\b>
It is actually the people of Orissa who have inspired me. When Clare Lilley,curator of YSP,invited me several years ago,she had asked the question what would be a meaningful solo exhibition for you at Yorkshire? YSP understands the relationship of people with land and nature,the politics of corporate and land mafias,the histories and lives of working people,especially farmers and miners and the meaning of multiple loss.
You have continued to add elements in TSF. This time,the two installations,Listening Benches and Six Mourners and The One Alone,borrow from the sculpture park. This is also your first sculpture for the outdoor.
I wanted to create something that would open our awareness of the trees that existed locally. The stories in the books inside the exhibition were expanded and recorded,and soundtracks were placed inside the benches. I was considering,at first,timber reclaimed from fallen trees in Yorskshire. It happened that the exhibition preparations coincided with major refurbishment of the Bretton Estate Chapel inside the YSP area and the dismantling of its irreparable organ. So the organ transformed into Listening Benches. In the installation you can read stories,such as The Counting Sisters and The One Alone. I have written them based on my experiences and travels in Orissa. The Six Counting Sisters are mourners and count the dead,the disappeared and now many more things and The One Alone counts the living. It is made from large black organ pipes. Each pipe had painted on it the texts from the film.
Central to TSF is the film The Scene of Crime,which documents the landscape in Orissa just before the lands were acquired by industries. You have brought 272 varieties of rice seeds from what you consider the terrain of crime. What are the ground realities of this terrain?<\b>
Orissa has been the epicenter of several conflicts between the local communities,government and corporations over the control of agricultural lands,forests,rivers and mineral sources. The forcible displacement of indigenous (tribal) communities and peasants has been a brutal cycle of life since the 50s.
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If a crime continues to occur regardless of the enormous evidence available,then is the crime invisible or the evidence invisible or are both visible but not seen? How do you understand the meaning of land? Do you measure it,multiply its dimensions and then calculate the cost according to current real estate value and be done with it? The 272 varieties of rice seeds have been grown and preserved by Natbar Sarangi,an old farmer in Orissa. Each seed has a personal name,a specific purpose,a history. It is an extensive local knowledge system. How do you understand the value of this knowledge system? When the land is taken over and the traditions and local food sovereignty of the people are destroyed,how do you calculate the meaning this loss?
You pursued a history degree at Delhi University in the early 80s and later studied at Jamia Milia in Delhi. Why did you take up films?<\b>
I took up filmmaking because it seemed interesting,less stressful,and more open,without rigid academic and examination systems. There was no deep desire or ambition to do films. However,I quit filmmaking for a while pretty early because I found it an absurdly expensive profession. It didnt
seem to make sense to spend so much money to make a film about for instance minimum wages or about the lives of working and the underprivileged.
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