Moses ZIBOR Nigerian/Ghanaian, b. 1978

Moses Zibor’s Joyous Journey Through Creative Waters

An eternal dreamer, Moses Zibor has journeyed far from his Nigerian homeland to be born again as an artist in Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan. Born in 1978 in Lagos and raised in the slums of Ajegunle, the city’s sprawling ghetto where kids yearn to become football stars but rarely want to be artists, Zibor developed a passion for both sport and art.

As a child, Zibor’s talent for deftly drawing Disney cartoon characters and Marvel superheroes was evident. His uncle, recognizing this talent, generously agreed to sponsor his college education in the arts, a heartwarming act that would shape Zibor's future. This early recognition and nurturing of his talent set him on the path to becoming the artist he is today.

Upon graduating from Yaba College of Technology in 2008, Zibor, who had been exhibiting his work in group shows both in Nigeria and abroad, continued to hone his craft. His determination to learn the tricks of the trade led him to apprentice with local Lagos artists even before attending college.

After a few years of practicing his art, Zibor seized the opportunity to pursue his other passion, football, in Kazakhstan. This led to a decade of diverse experiences, including teaching English, modeling, singing, acting, and other creative roles, demonstrating his adaptability and willingness to explore different paths.

Taking art classes at the Almaty Art School in 2017 helped prepare him to return to art making in 2020. Motivated by the Black Lives Matter movement, which transcended international borders, Zibor picked up brushes, paint, and canvas and started painting again. Working on a small scale at home, he shared his new work, more focused on his visions and dreams, with friends and colleagues who connected him to gallery and institutional shows, including a solo presentation at Almaty Museum of Arts in 2021.

Recalling advice from one of his art professors, who had told him to “paint from within, let the creativity flow from within” and “follow your passion, break the rules,” Zibor found a new freedom and a new way to tell his story through painting. Working from his dreams and the drawings he continuously recorded on a sketchpad, he turned his inner thoughts and spiritual beliefs into a personal form of surrealism.

Reinvesting the profits from his painting sales into a substantial studio space and quality materials, he dedicated himself to painting every day. Influenced by the colors and textiles of his adopted home in Kazakhstan, he has found a way to make art that went beyond what he had been doing in Nigeria, while still somewhat rooted in everything he had first seen and learned there.

This renewed dedication to painting has led to an appreciation of his work on the world stage, with group exhibitions in Europe and the United States, such as the art fair VOLTA New York in 2023, where his paintings were exhibited alongside colorful canvases by Oluwole Omofemi, Matthew Eguavoen, and Mederic Turay at OOA Gallery’s booth.

His past few years of experimentation, which he rightly envisions as his rebirth as an artist, is clearly visible in the recent paintings in his initial solo show at OOA Gallery. His self-portrait painting Broken Egg, Rooster and Goldfish (2022) captures the artist’s dream of being reborn as a rooster joyfully crowing in the morning about his sleep-filled vision of meeting someone in the future who will help him on his path to a better life, symbolized by a goldfish in a money sack.

His striking portrait, A Woman and Her Lamp, depicts an angelic black female haloed by lotus flowers, representing creation and rebirth. Rising from a sea filled with fish, symbolizing new people to meet, she carries a lamp in her hand to guide Zibor on his journey. Similarly, his uplifting canvas, Under Serenity, shows an angelic black woman in a simple brown shirt and a glowing flower-shaped gown surrounded by colorful fish of varied types.

The colorful canvases Fountain of Brotherhood and Stay With Me (both 2023) symbolize the solidarity and support the artist has found through football and friendship. His paintings Looking at My Butterfly I and Looking at My Butterfly II (both 2023) and the canvas Meta Wings (2024) represent art’s transformative power and the freedom it has brought to his life. Meanwhile, the surreal Saint Sebastian scenario in No Strings (2021), where the arrow-pierced Zibor fights to keep his head above water, shows the artist's strength, stamina, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

When recently asked why he makes art, Zibor exclaimed, “Why do I make art? I create art because I love to create, not because I want to sell it. I have a lot of paintings in the studio that I haven’t sold. I love creating art. I love to express the message that I have within me on the canvas.”

His painting Dream Infinity (2021) captures the artist in the act of envisioning the artwork we now see. Dreaming in a watery realm—a metaphor for renewal, survival, and transcendence—the artist is surrounded by his new friends seen as fish, a tortoise that tells him to take it one step at a time, a lamp to guide the way, a shark to make him aware of dangers, a hot air balloon with a basket to carry him forth, and a treasure chest to reward him when he reaches the place that we see in the distance.

Likewise, his otherworldy canvas Free at Last (2023) depicts a valiant goddess—the water spirit Mami Wata—in a dreamlike bubbly realm, keeping her head above water with the help of airborne and deep-sea creatures who have unlocked a chain to free the artist from fear—a story that’s strikingly spelled out in this painting and all of Zibor’s imaginative art.

Paul Laster

Art writer