Igshaan Adams’s practice coalesces performance, weaving, sculpture and installation. Born in Bonteheuwel, a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa, Adams draws upon his background to contest racial, sexual and religious boundaries. This intersectional topography remains visible throughout his practice and serves as a palimpsest upon which traces of personal histories are inscribed and reinscribed. He explains; “I’m interested in the personal stories recorded on the surface. What is recorded is not necessarily always a factual account but can be what is imagined - a combination of myth-making and meaning-making”.
Adams approaches materiality through his own subjectivity. Often, cultural and religious references are used in conjunction with surfaces that have always been present throughout his life; thread, beads, wire, linoleum, cotton twine, fabric. His interest in the material oscillates between the intuitive process of handling different substances as well as a formal inquiry into how various materials behave in different contexts and how they transfigure or evolve depending. Likening the material’s potential for evolution to his own potential for evolution, Adams is engaged in broadening his ideas of selfhood in an ongoing process of covering and uncovering, doing and undoing.
To date, Adams has held solo exhibitions at Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, The Art Institute of Chicago, Kunsthalle Zurich, Hayward Gallery (London), SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah), Akershus Kunstsenter (Oslo), and Iziko South African National Gallery (Cape Town), among others. He has also participated in numerous international group shows, including Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at Barbican Centre, London (2024), Choreographies of the Impossible, the São Paulo Biennale (2023), Awwal Bayt, the Islamic Arts Biennale (2023) in Jeddah, and The Milk of Dreams (2022) at the Venice Biennale.
Adams has been selected for a number of artist residencies including the Atelier residency at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, A4 Arts Foundation in Cape Town, the Sommerakademie im Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, and the IAAB Pro Helvetia residency in Basel. In 2018, Adams was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art. His works are included in numerous public collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Inhotim Museum, Brazil; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; and Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis.
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curriculum vitae
1982 Born in Cape Town, South Africa
education
2009 Diploma in Fine Art, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town
2003 National Certificate (N6) in Art & Design, College of Cape Town
solo exhibitions
2024 Holy Terrain, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2024 Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud, Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK
2024 Lynloop, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, USA
2023 Primêre Wentelbaan, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK
2022 Vastrapplek, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, USA
2022 Desire Lines, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
2022 skarrelbaan, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2021 Kicking Dust, Kunsthalle Zurich, Switzerland
2021 Kicking Dust, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
2021 Veld Wen, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, USA
2020 Getuie, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, USA
2020 stukkinne stories, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 I am no more, Akershus Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway
2018 When Dust Settles, institutional tour, South Africa
2018 Al Latîf, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 Oorskot, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2015 Please Remember, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2015 Parda, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 Have you seen Him?, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 If that I knew, Rongwrong Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2011 In Between, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2010 Vinyl, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2009 Jou Ma se Poes, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa
selected group exhibitions
2024 space of togetherness, Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece | School of Athens – Irene Papas, Athens, Greece
2024 Unravel - The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2024 Leaps of Faith, Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Design & Architecture, Hasselt, Belgium
2024 Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
2023 Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstractions, LACMA, Los Angeles, USA
2023 Choreographies of the Impossible, Bienal de São Paulo, São Paul, Brazil
2023 Stranger in the Village: Reflecting on Racism with James Baldwin, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland
2023 How do we know the world?, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, USA
2023 Collector's Focus: The Kilbourn Collection, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 lO, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 Narrative Threads: Textile Art Now, Moody Center for the Arts, Houston, USA
2023 Awwal Bayt (First House), Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2022 Dreamhome: Art and Shelter, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2022 Where do I begin?, Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa
2022 Unknown Unknowns: An Introduction to Mysteries, 23rd Triennale Milano, Milan, Italy
2022 Customs, curated by Josh Ginsburg and Sumayya Vally, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
2022 The Milk of Dreams, 59th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2021 A Line Beyond, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2021 Slowly Arriving, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland
2021 I have made a place, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
2021 Step Out of Your Body, Enter New Ones – An Exhibition On Community and Spirituality curated by Raphael Gygax, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland
2021 Where the threads are worn, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, USA
2020 WHO ARE WE ARE WHO, curated by Fabian Schöneich, Braunsfelder, Cologne, Germany
2020 Allied with Power, Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), USA
2020 Tomorrow there will be more of us, Stellenbosch Triennale, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2019 Risk, curated by Josh Ginsburg, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 Ngoma: Art and Cosmology, JAG, Johannesburg, South Africa
2019 the head the hand, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 Mapping Black Identities, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, USA
2019 Kubatana, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Øvre Eiker, Norway
2019 Matters of Concern, La Verrière, Brussels, Belgium
2019 Material Insanity, MACAAL, Marrakech, Morrocco
2019 Filling in the Gaps, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 CONDO London, blank projects hosted by Corvi-Mora, London, UK
2018 open agenda, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2018 Soft Power, curated by Julie Crenn, Transpalette, Bourges, France
2018 In This Imperfect Present Moment, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
2018 Pulling at Threads, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
2018 Ravelled Threads, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
2018 blank, Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin, Germany
2018 Sculpture, Institute of Contemporary Art Indian Ocean, Port Louis, Mauritius
2018 Da Uno a Dieci, Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy
2017 Les jour qui vient, Galerie des Galeries, Paris, France
2016 Figure, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 The Quiet Violence of Dreams, Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2016 3 881 days, blank lab, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 The 55-Minute Hour, Trubok Factory, Cape Town, South Africa
2015 Furniture: a sculpture exhibition, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2015 Sacre du Printemps curated by AA Bronson, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria
2015 Barriers, Wanås Konst, Knislinge, Sweden
2014 next thing you know, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 No Fixed Abode, The New Church Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 Blind Spot, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa
2014 Between Subject and Object, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 Bismillah, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa
2013 Three Abdullahs, Centre for African Studies, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 This is the thing, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2013 blank projects in Johannesburg, Ithuba Arts Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2012 When Form Becomes Attitude, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2012 Ingekluer: Beyond The Borders, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2012 A Century of Self, The Copy Shop, Cape Town, South Africa
2011 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa
2011 Slices of Life, Infecting the City Public Arts Festival, Cape Town, South Africa
2010 Laboratory of Recycled Revolutions, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
2010 Swallow my Pride, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
2010 Greatest Hits 2009, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
selected awards + residencies
2023 Not Working (Working Title), Atelier residency, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa
2020 Open Production, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 I.D.E.A. Residency Project, Nicoletta Rusconi Art Projects, Milan, Italy
2018 Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year Award for Visual Art, South Africa
2015 A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2014 Sommerakademie im Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland
2013 IAAB / Pro Helvetia residency, Basel, Switzerland
collections
Tate, London
LACMA, Los Angeles
The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
Inhotim Museum, Brazil
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis
Standard Bank collection, Johannesburg
University of Cape Town collection, Cape Town
