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Amar Kanwar Explores Partition and Memory at Serpentine Exhibition
Amar Kanwar is an artist and filmmaker showing his work at the Serpentine in London.
His exhibition is about how people remember difficult events.
A major part of it is a seven-screen film called The Charcoal Man.
The film connects the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan with divisions that can still affect society.
Another work, The Peacock’s Graveyard, is being shown in London for the first time.
The exhibition also includes Such a Morning, an 85-minute film about a mathematician who leaves his job and lives in an abandoned train carriage.
Kanwar uses films, writing, music, stories and old records to make visitors think.
The exhibition is open until January 31, 2027.
Amar Kanwar’s exhibition at Serpentine North centers on the new seven-screen installation The Charcoal Man.
The exhibition brings together The Charcoal Man, The Peacock’s Graveyard and the feature-length Such a Morning.
The works examine the continuing impact of the 1947 Partition and broader patterns of violence, memory and social division.
The Charcoal Man was developed over three years and commissioned by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi.
The exhibition, curated with Chris Bayley and Kit Gurnos, remains on display in London until January 31, 2027.
- Who
- Artist and filmmaker Amar Kanwar, with Serpentine staff and curators Chris Bayley and Kit Gurnos.
- What
- A solo exhibition presenting new and existing film installations about Partition, memory, violence and social division.
- Where
- Serpentine North in Kensington Gardens, London.
- When
- The exhibition is on display until January 31, 2027; The Charcoal Man is dated 2026.
- Why
- To explore the continuing impact of the 1947 Partition and how societies remember violence and upheaval.
Key facts
- Artist
- Amar Kanwar, born in New Delhi in 1964
- Main installation
- The Charcoal Man, a seven-screen film developed over three years
- Other works
- The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023) and Such a Morning (2017)
- Commissioner
- Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi commissioned The Charcoal Man
- Feature film length
- Such a Morning runs for 85 minutes
- Exhibition venue
- Serpentine North, Kensington Gardens, London
- Closing date
- January 31, 2027
Quotes
Amar Kanwar
Artist and filmmaker whose exhibition is presented at Serpentine North.
“Our capacity for evil is not new and yet the last decade has twisted this knife deeper into our souls.”
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“coherence from disintegration, insight from fusion, and stories from within stories”
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Sources
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