Bruce Onobrakpeya’s Ibiebe works contain a writing system that looks ancient but was actually invented by the Nigerian artist himself. He developed and refined the script between 1978 and 1986, creating geometric and curving signs informed by Urhobo symbols and the proverbs connected to them, while also responding to Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. In Ibiebe ABC III from 2000, the glyphs sit inside a checkerboard structure, functioning simultaneously as marks that suggest communication and as visual forms.
I like the uncertainty this creates. We instinctively try to read anything arranged like writing, even when we do not possess the key. Onobrakpeya makes that desire to decode part of the experience. The symbols connect to cultural knowledge, yet they also belong to an individual artistic language he deliberately constructed. Writing normally tries to stabilise meaning. Here it opens another possibility: a sign can communicate through rhythm, shape and association before we know exactly what it says.