Anya Mironets Keyes was born in Kyiv. She spent her youth in Vertiivka, Nizhyn Raion before moving to the United States when she was sixteen.
In the US, she had long dreamed of becoming a painter, but eager to make it in a new country, Anya initially pursued a career in pharmacy instead. After a decade-long hiatus from art, moving across the US to Portland, Oregon in 2017 gave her the kick-in-the-butt inspiration she needed to switch careers. Anya is a talented painter whose work is centered around Ukrainian identity. Her paintings draw on experience as a first-generation immigrant, a foreign-born mother, friend, and citizen. A woman seemingly integrated into modern American life, yet who occasionally slips into her rural Slavic upbringing. The goal of her art is to show immigration from a fresh perspective that promotes shared understanding and closes the gap between “them” and “us. After the war started Anya’s work found a new meaning. She now donates all proceeds from her art to help Ukrainians in her Motherland.