A major solo exhibition by Igshaan Adams opens this month at The Hepworth Wakefield, on Saturday 22 June.

Entitled Weerhoud, meaning ‘Withheld’ in Afrikaans, the exhibition will examine the impact of lived experiences and traumas on the human psyche, with a particular emphasis on the healing potential of movement.

Adams will present three new commissions created specifically for the exhibition, consisting of two tapestries and one of his largest immersive ‘cloud’ installations to date, exhibited alongside a selection of existing sculptures and textile pieces. Weerhoud presents an exciting development in Adams’s practice, shifting his focus from domestic spaces and landscapes, to the body: the new tapestries are derived from an ongoing series of dance workshops with young dancers from the Garage Dance Ensemble, a dance group based in O’okiep within South Africa’s Northern Cape Province.

Marie-Charlotte Carrier, Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield, said ‘Audiences need to experience Igshaan Adams’s art to fully appreciate the incredible skill and care that goes into creating each very detailed and powerful new work. I am excited to share the artist’s most ambitious work to date at The Hepworth Wakefield this summer and capture Adams’s new artistic focus on the body.’

The exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield will be accompanied by a book featuring essays by Carrier, curator and writer Nkgopoleng Moloi, Garage Dance Ensemble co-founder Alfred Hinkel, and an interview with Igshaan Adams led by Carrier and Laura Smith, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield.

Igshaan Adams
Weerhoud

22 June–3 November 2024

The Hepworth Wakefield
Gallery Walk
Wakefield
WF1 5AW