An ode to Odisha’s resilience

Amar Kanwar’s exhibition, ‘The Sovereign Forest’, at Nepal Art Council, exposes governmental injustices against indigenous communities through multimedia displays, powerful narratives and tangible evidence.

The evidence room at Nepal Art Council’s (NAC) ‘The Sovereign Forest’ exhibition displays documentation of a crime against the indigenous community of Odisha. The serene glow of the yellow lamps light up the otherwise dark room, putting the walls adorned by photos, newspaper clippings, legal documents and personal stories at the centre of the exhibition. These are the evidence collected by Amar Kanwar, against the forcible displacement of tribal and indigenous communities of Odisha. Kanwar’s exhibition is a homage to the crime committed against the locals of Odisha, and his way of portraying the struggles of a community that is the victim of what Kanwar describes as ‘a war by the state against its own land and people’.