Obiageli Annabel Zeinab Okigbo grew up in Nigeria until the age of 16. She continued her studies in Kent, then graduated from Oxford Brooks University with a BA in Architecture and pursued her post-graduate studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. She practiced architecture in London, Rome and Paris until 1995 when she moved to Brussels where she currently lives with her two children. Her training as an architect left a strong imprint on her work, expanding her reach through new media and support, ranging from "Indian ink on linen" to oil paint on canvas and collage. She has exhibited in Nigeria, United Kingdom, Dubai and Belgium including two major solo exhibitions in Lagos, 2003 and London, 2007. She established the Christopher Okigbo Foundation in 2005, which is tasked with researching and preserving the legacy of her late father, the poet Christopher Okigbo (1932-1967).
Like the alchemist who skilfully combines different elements to produce one unified material form, I conceive of each piece as a meeting/ melting point. My work summons the land of my ancestors my hopes desires regrets failures my strength my craft my belief & my favourite things. Layered temporalities distilled into a single moment - Anchored to the present. Doth manifest bear fruit and in turn multiply. In a going and coming. That goes on forever