The Hepworth Wakefield
22.06 - 03.11.2024

This essay was published as part of an exhibition catalogue on the occasion of the exhibition ‘Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud’ at The Hepworth Wakefield.

In her text Contemporary dance from Africa as creative opposition to stereotypical images of Africanity¹Nadine Siegert. Contemporary dance from Africa as creative opposition to stereotypical images of Africanity. BUALA. https://www.buala.org/en/stages/contemporary-dance-from-africa-as-creative-opposition-to-stereotypical-images-of-africanity Nadine Siegert suggests that African dance can be understood as a complex and interlinked artistic strategy, drawing on representations and corporealities. Siegert asserts dance’s potential to promote individual agency and develop strategies of appropriation and construction of postmodern identities. Through dance the body produces culture. The body is material, emotion, encounter, and worldview made manifest. 

A new turn in Igshaan Adams’s practice sees him thinking critically about the body and its potential to materialise through different forms. Drawing inspiration from dance, Adams considers movement in the broadest sense: rhythm, affect, substances in motion, and histories of mobility. He reflects on movement’s intersections with art-making processes and Sufi spiritualism – a mystical and ascetic form of Islam that emphasises the inward search for God. Movement becomes a way to access deeper spiritual states and explore one’s psyche and subconscious – a method of dislodging and releasing trauma or past experiences that have left an imprint. He says, “Through movement, through dance, one is then able to dislodge and release, to let go.²Interview with Igshaan Adams on 25th January 2024. Cape Town.”

Histories of Mobility

In 2019 Adams started working with local dancers to consider how the body holds and responds to trauma through a sequence of transformative actions. He collaborated with the local group Garage Dance Ensemble through a series of workshops, the first taking place in O’okiep, a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa and the second taking place in the city of Cape Town as part of his residency at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. 

The ensemble was established by Adam’s uncle, John Linden, and his partner Alfred Hinkel. Their bond, forged in defiance of societal norms as a gay interracial couple during the tumultuous apartheid era, serves as a testament to their resilience and creative spirit. Emerging as celebrated choreographers, they navigated through adversity and harsh apartheid laws that criminalised their relationship while also enforcing oppressive racial laws. Returning to O’okiep in 2010, they infused new life into a community that weathered decades of neglect through the founding of the Garage Dance Ensemble. 

To return to Siegart, one can think of the body in three parts:

1. as a physical body, which carries specific characteristics, which are culturally shaped; 
2. as a socialised body, inscribed with specific forms of behaviour, which are partly understood as natural;
3. and finally, as a symbol for open communication, which is able to transgress borders…

Adams leans into the transformative power of the body and its movement. His exploration of the body links to Siegart’s ideas of the body as a site of cultural and personal inscription, beginning with his investigations of the complexities of identity, particularly his own experiences as a queer Muslim man raised in a Christian home. The notion of the body as a physical entity shaped by culture resonates with his use of materials that carry memory and cultural significance. He engages the socialised body through his deep interest in community highlighting how the body is inscribed with norms and expectations. Through his work, individual experiences are intertwined with broader social narratives. For him, the body is a symbol open to communication through readings and misreadings that can result in displacement and belonging. The body is both an instrument and a site upon which complex ideas and emotions can be set. 

Rhythm 

“In terms of dance, a different sensitivity develops as it becomes impossible to boldly leap across the floor. Perceiving meaning in the material world is especially enhanced when the notions of multiple eyes and peripheral vision are applied to this exercise. Nothing can be taken for granted, and a wonderful relationship that brings attention to how one attends to elements in the world begins.³Nurturing the Relational Body: Decolonizing Dance Pedagogies, OnCurating Issue 55: Curating Dance: Decolonizing Dance. https://www.on-curating.org/issue-55-reader/editorial-1340.html” – Jacki Job 

In early 2023, the 55th edition of Oncurating⁴Sigrid Gareis, Nicole Haitzinger and Jay Pather. OnCurating Issue 55: Curating Dance: Decolonizing Dance. https://www.on-curating.org/issue-55-reader/editorial-1340.html, an independent international journal on curatorial practice and theory, centred its focus on dance. The edition proposed dance not only as a performative art but also as a sociocultural practice. If a sociocultural practice can be read as engagement with the community through collaborative and participatory means that involve artistic expression, then Adams’s practice is necessarily a sociocultural practice. In previous works, the communal Riel dance – a dynamic dance form originating from the indigenous Khoisan people of Southern Africa, characterised by an energetic cadence and intricate footwork with sharp movements – functioned as inspiration. The image of dust erupting as dancers shuffle and stomp influenced both the palette and texture of his tapestries and cloud installations. Seen as a source of groundedness and connection to the land, the dance creates a sense of community, not too different to how Adams approaches his practice. In sensibility, Adams’s practice parallels the dance form. Adams too works in community; he shares a profound connection with weavers as well as family and friends whose narratives he highlights. Often rendered through rhythm and repetition, his use of intricate patterns evokes a sense of movement and flow. In his most recent works, he often incorporates physical gestures: imprints of the dancers’ feet are woven onto the surface of the tapestries. Like dance, Adams’s work is filled with impermanence and ephemerality through the use of fragile objects that are allowed to age and decay. 

Affect

In this new exhibition, titled Weerhoud, meaning ‘withheld’ in Afrikaans, Adams seems to be moving through different frames, at times contracting and containing, at other times dispersing and exploding – he thinks through voids (negative space), weight (pulling down), and elevation (lifting). The tapestries function like organic membranes – the thin layer that forms the outer boundary of a living cell – allowing certain things through and keeping other things out, exploring ideas of permeability and boundaries. The exhibition’s title invokes this profound permeability. In Afrikaans, ‘weerhoud’ conveys the notion of restraint or concealment, whether knowingly or unknowingly. This concept delves into what is held back within the porous membrane of our bodies.

In Weerhoud, Adams draws on new and older works as a way of excavating the parts of his practice that are filled with tension and uncertainty. The works contemplate risk. He sees this as a point of introspection and exploration, reflecting on how failures have made him more averse to taking risks. He says, “I recognise that there has been an accumulation of failures and traumas that have now led me to the point where I am averse to taking the risk. I feel anxiety about being safe.⁵ Interview with Igshaan Adams on 25th January 2024. Cape Town.” In a sense, Weerhoud crystallises years of thinking and experimentation. The act of going back to reflect and contemplate becomes important. Adams draws inspiration from his 2018 exhibition at Blank Projects in Cape Town, titled Al Latîf, which translates to ‘the subtle one’. This phrase is one of the ninety-nine names attributed to God (Allah) and signifies qualities of refinement, subtlety, and delicacy in expression and perception. He reflects what he refers to as ‘subtle vibrations’ achieved through long periods of digestion and gestation resulting in works that carry depth. 

Weerhoud features artworks that subtly evoke a sense of fragmentation and the passage of time. Some pieces bear traces of exposure to the elements, hinting at a weathered past. Others show signs of intentional damage or tearing, their imperfections proudly on display as part of their essence. These works convey a delicate balance, suggesting they were once part of a larger whole, now fragmented and vulnerable. This theme is exemplified in the work Bent, a piece that explores the concept of fundamental structural change. Like a flower bending toward sunlight, altering its shape in response to its environment, Bent illustrates how external forces can subtly transform the essence of an artwork.

Substance in Motion

Adams’s practice reflects abstraction not as the opposite of materiality but as a way of engaging with it. The materials he uses not only bear the physical marks of their previous use but also carry layers of meaning and memory, reflecting the cultural shaping of their surroundings. Materials are a grammar and a method. From steel, beads, rope, wire, wooden hangers, turmeric, dyes, and dirt, they become integral to drawing a connection to a personal narrative. For the better part of his practice, Adams sourced vinyl floors from homes of family and friends in townships such as Langa and Bonteheuwel where he was raised. Using these floors, locally referred to as tapyt, Adams mapped pathways that correspond to the abrasion caused on the lived surface. Through this work, he aimed to uncover the bottom layers of what lies underneath the floor, both in tangible and abstract ways. The practice of tracing how bodies move through domestic spaces (the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom) was an important way for him to explore liminality. He became interested in how such boundaries, both physical and mental, can be transcended or redefined, suggesting themes of freedom, exploration, and change. Later on, when he ventured off to map the streets of Bonteheuwel through photographs of fields and parks, his works began to contemplate the persistence of historical boundaries in modern contexts. He incorporated the concept of desire lines – the informal paths that people create through repeated use, often diverging from established routes to take more direct or convenient paths – to explore themes of movement and personal agency. Desire lines function as quiet moments of resistance where travellers refuse the assigned path in favour of their own preferred route. Desire itself speaks to strong impulses and determination. For Adams, this is a desire to break free from the boundaries of race, religion, and sexuality. 

Adams can transform everyday materials into objects of great beauty and significance. Conversely, he can also take materials that might be considered precious and subject them to a kind of strain or tension, explaining, “These things bear scars of trauma, but still insist on being beautiful despite the trauma.⁶ Interview with Igshaan Adams on 25th January 2024. Cape Town.” Take the work Ouma for instance. Created in 2016 from a combination of nylon rope, string, beads, fabric, and wire scarf hangers, this piece acts as a tribute to his maternal grandmother – a strong and caring woman who played a pivotal role in shaping his artistic practice. She supported his studies at Ruth Prowse School of Art, by creating space in their home for his projects and providing him with materials to experiment with. The title of the work, Ouma, is translated into ‘grandmother’ from the Afrikaans language. In Adams’s practice, language plays a significant role. Afrikaans, the language of his upbringing, often hints at specific cultural cues and experiences particular to him and those in his community. Ouma carries the weight of history and memory. The piece is amorphous and porous, speaking to the multifaceted nature of his grandmother’s character. He tells me, “After 50-odd years of being married, of having to make food every day, take care of my grandfather, five daughters, then her grandchildren, then her sister’s children whom she helped raise and educate, she was one of the women who the daily grind of life weighed down. It makes me sad because it’s true. She was so strong. I know no one in the world with that level of integrity.⁷Interview with Igshaan Adams on 25th January 2024. Cape Town.” The work reminded me of American artist and illustrator Maira Kalman’s reflection on women and their capacity to hold – the home, the family, the memories, the work of the world, and the work of being human. And love. Kalman posits that “men hold things as well, but not quite in the same way.⁸Maira Kalman.Women Holding Things.Harper (October 18, 2022)”

Interdisciplinary in its mode, Adams’s practice involves elements of performance, weaving, and installation. He describes performance as uncomfortable but necessary for pushing boundaries and creating new work. He emphasises the importance of the body in communicating internal experiences and emotions through movement, highlighting the need for both internal and external awareness in artistic expression. In a performance from 2014 titled Bismillah, which refers to the opening phrase of the Quran meaning ‘in the name of Allah’, Adams laid on a table covered only by a white towel while his father, Amien Adams, performed the traditional Muslim funeral rite of bathing the body in preparation for burial. This performance served as a turning point in Adams’s relationship with his identities, particularly his difficult relationship with his father. By engaging in a ritual typically reserved for the deceased, he acknowledged the emotional significance of his father in his life and facilitated the emergence of a new relationship. Additionally, the performance marked a new understanding of Adams’s own identity, particularly his queerness within the context of his Muslim heritage. Writing about the work, Professor Ruth Simbao noted how Adams “moved beyond sight in multiple ways, playing with the relationship between seeing and not seeing, concealing, and revealing, and between tangible and intangible worlds. In doing so, he draws on sound, touch, smell, and metaphors of taste, engaging not only with the senses of the body but the senses of sites and communities too.⁹Ruth Simbao. 2015. “Cleansing via the Senses as Eyesight Follows the Soul: Igshaan Adams’ Bismillah Performance”. In Igshaan Adams. Cape Town: Blank Projects.” The body is implicated and through this performance, it creates the potential for both healing and transformation. 

Adams’s new tapestries act similarly; they are a form of documentation, archiving the ephemerality of dance through imprints woven onto a surface. For instance, Jamie-Lee, Dustin (2023) originates from collaborative workshops where the artist teamed up with young dancers from the Garage Dance Ensemble. During these sessions, the dancers engaged intuitively with a large canvas coated in wet paint. Adams covered the canvas with a large plastic sheet and invited the dancers to perform on it. This process resulted in the creation of abstract paint marks left by the dancers’ bodies, serving as the foundation for the artwork. These ‘paintings’ or ‘monotypes’ inspire the tapestries in Weerhoud. Adams outlines the contours of the monotypes and decides which parts to fill in, identifying areas for weaving and areas to leave unwoven. In collaborating with the dancers, Adams sees the potential for releasing trapped or withheld emotions within the body. The tapestries become a way to document stories, highlighting the importance of preserving and reflecting on past experiences. 

While also creating a sense of the real by making things tangible, Adams images absence through the use of negative space in Weerhoud. Space itself becomes a sculptural field that can be engaged not only by the artist but also by viewers. Made from household objects, including chairs, lamps, and wire, Adams presents cloud installations that create an immersive and enveloping environment through which viewers can walk. The work creates an acute awareness of space and how the body or objects move within it. It also evokes the image of dust rising – like dust clouds created when dancers move through the ground. His conversation with dust is longstanding. For him, dust indicates rupture, urgent and possibly even insurgent. Dust is necessarily about place, beginning with cosmic dust as the origin of all matter of life, to drifting dust that disobeys borders, and fragments of dust produced by bodies in motion. Adams’s practice evokes the circularity described by Carolyn Steedman in her text Dust: The Archive and Cultural History: “This is what Dust is about; […] It is about circularity, the impossibility of things disappearing, or going away, or being gone. Nothing can be destroyed.¹⁰Carolyn Steedman. Dust: The Archive and Cultural History. Rutgers University Press (2002)” 

When I contemplate Adams’s practice, I recognise themes of transformation and growth. What has consistently struck me is his ability to articulate the essence of his work. He grapples with profound existential questions about life – how to exist in the world, how to engage with community – with a curiosity and elegance that invites others to do the same. His practice intertwines to create a rich narrative that delves into personal history, cultural identity, and the complexities of navigating past and present realities.

Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud is on view at The Hepworth Wakefield until November 3rd, 2024.

Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud was edited by Marie-Charlotte Carrier.