Noir Portraits
ZAVINCI
Digital Art
Originally Published: 19 December 2025
Noir Portraits is a digital painting series that celebrates the beauty, strength, and introspection of Black identity. Through seven expressive compositions, the series showcases various profiles of African individuals—each one embodying emotion, culture, and inner reflection. Blending abstraction and figuration, Noir Portraits captures more than appearances; it translates moods, rhythms, and invisible connections that shape African existence. The dark tonal palette serves as both metaphor and tribute evoking depth, resilience, and the spiritual richness that defines Black culture. Each portrait becomes a mirror, inviting viewers to see beyond surface representation and into the essence of human experience.
The Creative
ZAVINCI
Sounfungoward Coulibaly (b. 1994), known artistically as Zavinci, is a visual artist from Côte d’Ivoire whose work spans painting, textile art, and digital media. Based in Abidjan, he began his creative journey in graphic design before developing a multidisciplinary practice centered on color, form, and emotion.
Blending African traditions with contemporary art languages, Zavinci uses abstraction and expressionism to explore themes of identity, perception, and freedom. His compositions balance spontaneity and calm, inviting viewers to reect on the fragmented ways we see ourselves and others.
Through recurring motifs such as one-eyed figures and totemic forms, he questions selfhood, memory, and transformation. Each medium whether textile, canvas, or digital becomes a space for dialogue between the personal and the collective.
His work has been shown in exhibitions such as Tradition et Modernité (Abidjan, 2022), Creative Minds (Exhibizone, 2024), and Abstract Art (Royal Blue Gallery, 2024). He has also received several recognitions, including finalist for the Samsung Mobile Design Competition (2019), winner of the Vlisco Print Futures 1.0 workshop (2021), and nalist of the Fak’ugesi Awards (2023).
Continuing to evolve beyond boundaries, Zavinci develops a visual language that merges freedom and structure, seeking through color and rhythm to express the depth of human emotion and the quiet strength of self-discovery.