Laetitia Ky

• Name — Laetitia Ky • Birthplace — Abidjan, Ivory Coast • Style — Sculpture • Education — Institut national polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny • Born — 1996

Ky was born in 1996 and grew up in Abidjan; her parents divorced when she was young. She has a degree in Business Administration from Institut national polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Yamoussoukro. After graduating, Ky decided to pursue the arts rather than business, and began to teach herself to sew, with the intent of having a career in fashion. After Ky began losing hair at age 16, she gained interest in the American natural hair movement; she has stated that, "despite living in a country full of black women," she had never before seen a black woman with natural hair.

After a Facebook account she followed shared a photo album of twentieth-century, pre-colonial African women in 2016, Ky was inspired to sculpt her hair in a manner similar to the featured women. She posted her sculptures to Instagram; inspired by the positive response from other black women, she continued to regularly post hair sculptures. In 2017, after one of her sculptures went viral, Ky began getting approached by international magazines. In 2017, Ky hosted her first "Ky Braids" workshop to teach the art-form to others. A music collaboration followed with Di'Ja, whose hair she covered in printed wax cloth inspired by the hair of Himba women. Ky launched her fashion brand in 2018. Named Kystroy, it aims to be inclusive, using body positive language to describe clothing sizes for example. Ky's work was featured in the 2022 Venice Biennale, inside the Ivory Coast Pavilion. In the same year, LIS10 Gallery presented in Arezzo "Empow’Hair", her first solo show, together with a Marco Rambaldi's installation. Ky is represented by Lis10 Gallery in Arezzo and Paris.

Over time Ky's sculptures have become more political, and in 2017 she used her platform on social media to raise awareness. That piece showed a man lifting up a woman's skirt, sculpted from her braids. The same year, she produced a piece that created bulging muscles over her slim arm, with the intent to raise awareness about bullying, especially the damage it can do in childhood, which Ky experienced. Sex-based oppression is a recurring theme in Ky's art; she has made sculptures in protest of practices such as breast flattening, female genital mutilation, and American anti-abortion laws. Ky has cited this as a source of tension between Western and African feminists, saying that although she respects the Western feminist perspective, "as an African artist and feminist, I have the duty to be loud about our perspective that is way too often silenced and forgotten." After a 2023 interview with Télérama did not include mention of her stance against the rights of transgender people, public outry led to the newspaper adding a correction. Ky began to incorporate more messaging about race in her art after gaining more international attention. She has stated that although she had previously felt the desire to change her skin color and African features, embracing her natural hair had led her to additionally embrace other African features; this has been a motivating factor in creating natural hair centered art. Ky is seen by many as a figurehead in the natural hair movement.

• Year — Title — Role — Director — Notes • 2020 — Night of the Kings — The Queen — Philippe Lacôte • 2023 — Disco Boy — Udoka — Giacomo Abbruzzese • 2025 — Promised Sky — Jolie — Erige Sehiri

The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Recorded with the gender female. It is also recorded that laetitia Ky is recorded with the occupation artist. It is also recorded that laetitia Ky is recorded with the occupation personal stylist. Recorded with the occupation women's rights activist. It is also recorded that laetitia Ky is recorded with the occupation actor. It is also recorded that laetitia Ky is recorded with the occupation activist. Recorded with the occupation photographer. Born on 15 June 1996. Institutional cataloguing adds that laetitia Ky is recorded as a citizen of Ivory Coast.