Born in Vancouver, B.C. Canada, early childhood in Germany, raised in Kingston, Jamaica and a resident of Oslo, Norway for more than twenty years, she now feels herself to be both of many places and no place at all. She also has a working base in Palma, Mallorca.  She has a Master ́s degree in International Social Work. After years of teaching at Universities, developing community programs and outreach facilities in Jamaica, Canada, Latvia, Bosnia Hercegovina, and Norway, Zoya began painting full-time in 2000.

“My art falls somewhat outside but I guess that is only fitting. I paint the cast of characters that fill the spaces in between. We all have a cast of characters that define our lives. My cast is the cast of the misfit. They are “immigrants” found between cultures, continents, languages, and disciplines. My characters become their own characters and, in this way, hopefully, the characters of their viewers”.