Igshaan Adams: Lulu, Zanele, Zandile, Savannah

Igshaan Adams (born 1982, Cape Town) creates luminous tapestries and sculptural installations that synthesize collective weaving traditions, ornamental beading, and the revaluation of mundane materials. His woven works combine chromatically intense threads with found objects—chains, lace, beads, and ribbon—whose reflective surfaces create shimmering, intricate surfaces that evoke aerial landscapes. Adams suspends wire and twisted material "dust clouds" alongside his tapestries, formally evoking both cosmic phenomena and the joyful, rhythmic movement of bodies dancing and Sufi whirling. His practice is deeply informed by research into Sufism's mystical framework, in which the body channels divine forces and imagination momentarily gives form to vibrational reality, challenging rigid social classifications. Adams has exhibited at Hayward Gallery, MoMA, LACMA, and participated in the Venice Biennial (2021) and São Paulo Biennial (2023).