E-Paper
Indian filmmaker wins Norwegian award
Indian documentary filmmaker Amar Kanwar has been awarded the first-ever Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art.
Indian documentary filmmaker Amar Kanwar has been awarded the first-ever Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art.
The award is named after the Norwegian expressionist and printmaker Edvard Munch (1863-1944). His intense, evocative treatment of anguish greatly influenced development of German expressionism in the early 20th century.
Oslo's Office for Contemporary Art in Norway said Kanwar was given the award for "responding to conditions in contemporary India". His films primarily concern issues relating to violence, politics, ecology and sexuality.
The award was initiated to "enhance exchange in international contemporary art and highlight the importance and ongoing influence of the Norwegian artist".
It aims to support the development of a new work and to cover living expenses during the residency in Norway. It consists of a six-month residency at the Munch Estate in Oslo and a grant of $55,000.
Kanwar's works cover topics as diverse as the history and politics of collecting water in the desert, the physical and mental spaces that men and women carve out for themselves within the family, and ecological interpretations of Buddhism.
Other films of his have dealt with the opposition between globalisation and tribal consciousness in the heart of rural India.
For instance, Kanwar's film "A Season Outside" (1998) deals with a personal and philosophical passage through many zones of violence and non-violence, another film "A Night Of Prophecy" (2002), explores poetry in contemporary India through multiple poetic journeys that seek to unravel history, time and the future.
"What makes Kanwar's films so compelling is the acute immediacy of their images and the perplexing, almost beguiling contours of their narratives. Kanwar's films do not explain, they show and tell," said the award office.
Giving the award, they praised the filmmaker for creating "a space of continuous traversing between deep personal zones and the complicated outside universe.
"Similar to the work of Edvard Munch, Amar Kanwar deals with existential issues that have a universal bearing on the human condition."
It noted that Munch debated human conditions that were both personal and prevalent among his contemporaries, themes such as terminal illness, poverty, social exclusion, profound grief, love, lust and fear.
