Meet the Artist: Yevheniia Laptii

Yevheniia Laptii (b. 1992, Kharkiv, Ukraine) studied at the Kharkiv Art Academy of Design and Arts specialising in art history. She began her career making digitally altered photographic images in 2016. She has participated in various group and solo exhibitions in Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Poland and Austria. She is a laureate of the 2018 NonStopMedia contest. Her project at Kettle’s Yard is the first presentation of her work in the UK.

A G E N D A is a new series of artist projects at Kettle’s Yard that respond to global events and address pressing issues of our time. Following a presentation of Yevheniia Laptii’s work ‘Deti’ in early 2024, we are displaying a selection of other works by the Ukrainian artist, all featuring the village of Cherkaski Tyshky. The most enduring setting and subject of Laptii’s work, the village is located ten kilometres north-east of Kharkiv, close to the Russian border. The village is home to Laptii’s grandparents and was where the artist found herself during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After spending twenty days under occupation, she was forced to flee Ukraine by way of Russia. She then spent two years in Austria, before returning to Ukraine where she currently lives and works. In Laptii’s work, Cherkaski Tyshky has come to symbolise a lost paradise but one which will be refound.