Oleksandr Liapin (b. 1956) is a Ukrainian artist, curator, and critic. He initially studied at the theatre faculty of the I.K. Karpenko-Karyi State Theatre Institute in Kyiv, but left his studies early. He subsequently worked in a factory before serving in the army. After returning from military service, he enrolled in the Faculty of History at the Kyiv Pedagogical Institute and later worked on a dissertation at the Ukrainian Research Institute of Pedagogy.
At the same time, Liapin began working at the Museum of the History of Kyiv while publishing articles in a range of newspapers and magazines. Passionate about photography since childhood, he also started photographing for these publications. Amid the growing interest in documentary photography during the late Soviet period, he became one of the founders of the Kyiv photography group Pohliad, active from 1986 to 1994. Within the group, he worked primarily as an art critic and exhibition organiser.
From 1993 to 1996, Liapin curated the Ukrpresfoto competition. He later spent ten years as editor-in-chief of the newspaper Vechirni Visti and headed the photo agency PHL Fotolenta. He also worked with the magazines Studiya and Foto Video Novyny, and served as editor-in-chief of Symbol magazine and the online platform Foto.ua. Between 2012 and 2015, he founded and organised the all-Ukrainian photography award, Photographer of the Year. Alongside his editorial and curatorial work, he also taught photography. For eight years, he served as editor-in-chief of the photo desk at the Ukrinform
news agency. He is a member of the National Union of Photographic Artists of Ukraine.
Since 2009, Liapin has expanded his practice beyond photography to include painting, sculpture, and collage. He has participated in and curated numerous Ukrainian and international exhibitions, including the Festival of Naïve Art. This engagement reflects a longstanding interest in this mode of artistic thinking and visual language, evident in his photographic series from the 1970s.
