Cyrus Kabiru was born in 1984 in Nairobi, Kenya, where he currently lives and works. He has participated in numerous residency programmes, including: the Africa First residency, in collaboration with START incubator project in Israel (2019;) the Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) Artist-in-Residency Programme at the Segera Retreat in Laikipia, Kenya (2018); and at the Fundació Han Nefkens residency in Barcelona, Spain (2016). Selected awards include the Quartz Africa Innovators recognition at Quartz Africa’s Innovators Summit in Nairob(2016); the Maker Faire Africa Award for Best Artist Innovation – Thinking Outside the Box (2010); and the Young Innovator Award by the Sandbox Network in London, UK (2007).

Recent talks and presentations include 2021’s Owning our Stories: Creative Media and Strength of the African Arts Industry, as part of the Africa Together Virtual Conference hosted by the University of Cambridge; Comparative Futurisms | Afro-Asian Perspectives, as part of Art Basel in Hong Kong, China (2019); Re- Visioning Africa Through the Creative Lens with Cyrus Kabiru at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington DC, USA (2018); and The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered at the TED Talk Conference in Los Angeles, USA in 2013.

Kabiru’s notable group exhibitions include his participation in the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial in Western Australia and The Pandemic is a Portal, curated by Daniel S. Palmer, at The Armory in New York City, USA; both in 2021; Paris Photo at the Braverman Gallery in Paris, France; Matereality at Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa (2020); Material Insanity at MACAAL in Marrakech, Morocco; KUBATANA at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium in Vestfossen, Norway; and That Was Then at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa, all in 2019; the

Kochi-Muziris Biennale in Kochi, India (2018); All Things Being Equal at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa (2017); Making Africa – A Continent of Contemporary Design, a travelling exhibition curated by Amelie Klein with OkwuiEnwezor, at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany (2015), which was later shown at The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and selected museums in the USA; Brutal Beauty: Violence and Contemporary Design at the MARTA Herford Museum of Contemporary Art in Herford, Germany (2016); Lumières d’Afriques at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, France; AFRICA – Architecture & Identity at the Louisiana Museum in Humlebæk, Denmark; Beyond Borders at the 5th edition of the Beaufort Triennial in West Flanders, Belgium; and Unorthodox at The Jewish Museum in New York City, USA, all in 2015.

Kabiru’s selected solo exhibitions include Taarifa Kamili, in Nairobi, Kenya (2020); Macho Mbadala at SMAC Gallery Johannesburg, South Africa; and Pandashuka at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa, both in 2017; C-Stunners and Black Mamba at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town in 2015 and Cyrus Kabiru at Kuntspodium T Gallery in Tilburg, Netherlands in 2011.

Kabiru’s art fair presence includes solo presentations at Art X Lagos in Nigeria (2018); The Armory Show, as part of the African Perspectives curated section in New York in 2016; Black Mamba at the FNB Joburg Art Fair in Johannesburg, South Africa; and The End Of The Black Mamba at the LOOP Fair in Barcelona, Spain both in 2015.

His work is included in a number of notable collections, including the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town and The Met Museum in New York, South Africa.