ZAINAB IBRAHIM

Biography

Zainab Ibrahim (b. 1999) graduates from Yaba College of Technology in 2025. She started drawing portraits of her grandparents and their friends during the pandemic.

She uses vine charcoal on bamboo paper. Each portrait begins with a recorded conversation about the subject's life.

Artist Statement

"I started because my grandfather was sick and I wanted something to remember him by. Now I do it for other people's families too."

'Gaze of Wisdom' is portraits of people over 70 from different parts of Nigeria. I interview them first—sometimes for hours—then I draw. The conversation changes how I see their face.