«These stories lay the foundation for reflecting on our unbearable arrogance, our illusions, and our deep desire for violence.» Amar Kanwar

The Peacock’s Graveyard is the title of the seven-channel video installation by Indian artist and filmmaker Amar Kanwar (New Dehli, 1964), included in the exhibition Amar Kanwar. Co-Travellers at Palazzo Grassi, Venice. Kanwar has distinguished himself since the 1990s for his films and works that investigate the mechanisms of power, violence, and resistance.

The work, created in 2023 and part of the Pinault Collection, intertwines cinema, art, and philosophical reflection, proposing a poetic meditation on the fragility of the world and the cycle of life. The lyrics of the five timeless fables, written by Kanwar himself, follow the rhythm of moving images creating a sensitive narrative punctuated by “raga”, a melodic Indian classical music based on improvisation. These five stories feature the emblematic figures of a cruel and unjust priest, an executioner wounded by a branch of the execution tree, a landowner who betrays a promise he made to his poorest tenant, a reincarnated president, and two friends saved from their constant quarrels.

This visual and narrative experience has become a valuable book-object thanks to Irma Boom Office’s original graphic and cartotechnical project, which restores the filmic sequence through stills that scroll full-page, alternating with text in three languages (Italian, English, and French).