Igshaan Adams: Between Then and Now

Igshaan Adams (b. 1982, Cape Town) creates layered compositions that blur the boundaries between textiles, sculpture and performance. His early interest in weaving began with the handmade baskets his family collected during his childhood. His artistic practice has evolved through a deeply intuitive approach to textiles: ’I deliberately avoided getting weaving training so as not to know, and to operate from that not-knowing.’

Through a collaborative practice, Adams’ work draws on personal memory, spirituality and shared histories, transforming overlooked materials from daily Cape Town life into powerful reflections on identity, value and belonging.

Igshaan Adams: Between Then and Now is conceived as a woven timeline of the artist’s work, embedded with residues of history and echoes of his past. Raised in Bonteheuwel, a racially segregated suburb of Cape Town during apartheid, Adams navigated the tensions of a deeply divided society and grew up at the intersection of conflicting identities. These experiences inform his practice, which often explores the spiritual dimensions of healing and transformation.

The exhibition begins with an expansive installation of textile swatches, which visitors are invited to touch, immersing them into Adams’ studio environment. His signature tapestries and ‘cloud’ sculptures are presented alongside his dance prints, shown here for the first time as a large-scale environment. Together, they form a silent choreography that turns movement into a language of liberation.

Biography

Igshaan Adams’ (1982, Cape Town) 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. Adams approaches materiality through his own subjectivity, often using cultural and religious references in conjunction with surfaces that have always been present throughout his life. His interest in material oscillates between the intuitive process of handling different substances and a formal inquiry into how various materials behave in different contexts and how they transfigure or evolve.

Adams has held solo exhibitions internationally, including at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus (2025); The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield (2024); The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston (2024); Thomas Dane Gallery, London (2023); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (2022); Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich (2022); Hayward Gallery, London (2021); and The Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2018). He has participated in numerous group shows and biennials, including the Bukhara Biennial (2025); Space of Togetherness, NEON, National Theatre of Greece Drama School, Athens (2024); the Barbican Centre, London (2024); the 35th Bienal de São Paulo (2023); the Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah (2023); the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2022); the 23rd Triennale Milano (2021); Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel (2021); and the Pérez Art Museum Miami (2020), among many others.

His work is held in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Speed Art Museum, Louisville; Tate, London; The Hepworth Wakefield; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; ARoS Aarhus Art Museum; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Art Institute of Chicago; Baltimore Museum of Art; The Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston; Inhotim Museum, Brumadinho; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Standard Bank collection, Johannesburg; and the University of Cape Town. In 2018, he was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art. Igshaan Adams lives and works in Cape Town.