Art that Finds Clarity in South Africa’s Full Land


His path went through a female-led Sufi community, studies in graphic design at a technical college, and eventually an art school diploma. A lot had changed by then. He recreated his grandmother’s living room for the graduation show; She arrived and sat there, “watching their soap” on TV under her embroidered self-portraits.

The Chicago show features a hall furnished with linoleum squares he collected from houses in Bonteheuwel. Many families, even poor ones, said they change their linoleum every Christmas. “I find this action very promising. But a part of me identifies with worthless things and making them valuable.”

Hendrik FolkertsA former Art Institute curator (now at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm) who organized the show said that Adams’ art grew outward, first coming into reconciliation with the home and gradually with the world. “It went from very inland to real soil,” Folkerts said.

Their lands are troubled but challenging for them. While Cape Town is known for its white privilege, undisturbed by Black South Africans, compared to Johannesburg, Katz, who has tried both cities, said she found it necessary to stay there. “Occupying space is important in Cape Town,” he said.

As for Adams, though his lines of desire took him too far, he never really left the Bonteheuwel community, where for every social ill there is also a balancing mechanism of solidarity. Now it’s his turn. Friends, neighbors and aunts work in his workshop. Studio manager Morné Roux is a childhood friend who got his first passport for a trip to Chicago.

In the workshop they call Adams “Pa” or dad. Cannot bear; they will not stop. “It’s a nice community,” he said. If his production is efficient, it is because he watches over his people. “This is a big responsibility,” he said, without complaint in his voice. “I can’t let go of the ball.”



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