Leonila Varzhevska is a Fine Art photographer from Ukraine, currently based in Toronto.

Her practice merges photography with mixed media installation. Through building theatre sets, creating textile art pieces, making clothing, accessories, and face painting, she creates immersive worlds in which she stages and photographs performative scenes.

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Leonila is driven by a fascination with internal belief systems—both her own and those of others—and how these shape and are shaped by societal perception. Grounded in visual research and emotional inquiry, her work uses constructed space and narrative portraiture to explore cultural myths, psychological landscapes, and ideas of identity, otherness, and belonging. Her recent projects have focused on themes such as queer gender expression, home, alienation, and imagined futures.

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Her interest in visual arts began in childhood, when she took painting courses and staged her first photoshoots with family members as subjects. At 15, she began working with a semi-professional camera, teaching herself photography through trial and error. Her decision to pursue Fine Art was shaped by her time as a graphic designer at the Contemporary Art Center M17 in Kyiv.

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Since relocating to Canada in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine, she has been actively exhibiting her work. In 2025, her first solo exhibition, Amuse Us, was presented as part of the CONTACT Photography Festival. She regularly participates in group exhibitions across Toronto, including at Lyceum Gallery, the Women’s Art Association of Canada, and Gallery 44.