The Art Institute of Chicago presents "Igshaan Adams: Desire Lines"
Igshaan Adams - Langa - 2021
From April 2 to August 1, 2022, the Art Institute of Chicago presents "Igshaan Adams: Desire Lines," an exhibition of 20 works by South African artist Igshaan Adams, created between 2014 and the present.
Source: Art Institute of Chicago. Image: Igshaan Adams, "Langa," 2021. Photo by Mario Todeschini. Courtesy of the artist; blank projects, Cape Town © Igshaan Adams.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1982, in the midst of apartheid, Igshaan Adams' work has always raised questions of identity. Raised in a Christian family, Adams -Muslim and homosexual- understands his works as a way of self-understanding and manifesting himself. "I’m hoping that people will see that if you look at my work it’s always just been a very personal statement," he explained in a November 2017 interview with Alexander Matthews.
"Desire Lines" delves into this idea of personal identity. Adams presents Bonteheuwel, the Cape Town township where he grew up, "both as a deeply personal space, imbued with childhood memories and a network of familial relationships, and a politically charged space, shaped by violence and generational trauma. Neither experience can erase the other; both are always present," the Art Institute of Chicago explains in a press release. These "desire lines" thus have a double meaning. On the one hand, they are understood as "informal pathways created by pedestrians choosing a more expedient route to their desired destination" but also as "a powerful metaphor for the paths created by one individual which then assume a collective form"
In recent years, Igshaan Adams' work has been the subject of major exhibitions, including "Kicking Dust," the artist's first exhibition in continental Europe, which the Kunsthalle Zürich is hosting through next May. Previously, his work was on view at the Hayward Gallery in London between May and July 2021.

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