Ola Kolehmainen, born in 1964 in Helsinki, lives and works in Berlin. As part of the first generation of the Helsinki School, he became known for his minimalist-abstract approach, which takes modern architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries as a starting point. In recent years he has turned his minimalist eye to the meta-level of art and architecture history. The turning point came in 2014 with a commission from Borusan Contemporary Museum in Istanbul, when Kolehmainen was working with Ottoman and Byzantine sacred monuments and developed an abstract, constructive way of photographing these historically charged buildings. In 2015 the Royal Institute of British Architects awarded him the RIBA Honorary Fellowship. From December 2017 to March 2018, the Helsinki Art Museum hosted a large-scale exhibition of his works entitled Sacred Places. He has held 50 solo exhibitions, published five monographs, and participated in numerous group exhibitions around the world. He is currently working on new works for the 9th edition of the Beijing Biennale 2022.
 
Ola Kolehmainen was a resident at Tarabya Cultural Academy from October 2013 to March 2014.

Helsinki’de doğan Ola Kolehmainen, 2005’ten beri Berlin’de yaşıyor ve çalışıyor. Helsinki Üniversitesi’nde gazetecilik okuduktan sonra, Helsinki Sanat ve Tasarım Yüksekokulu’nda fotoğrafçılık öğrenimi gördü.

Fotoğrafçılık bölümünde öğrenciyken 1995’te açtığı ilk kişisel sergisi Helsinki’de Finlandiya Fotoğraf Ödülü’ne ve Almanya’da Bad Homburg’da Avrupa Fotoğraf Ödülü’ne aday gösterildi. Kolehmainen 1995’ten beri galeriler ve müzelerdeki 30’dan fazla kişisel ve 90’ı aşkın karma sergide yer aldı, dört monografi yayımladı. Royal Instute of British Architects, 2015’te Kolehmainen’i RIBA Fahri Üyeliği’ne layık gördü.

Ola Kolehmainen Ekim 2013-Mart 2014 tarihleri arasında Tarabya Kültür Akademisi’nin konuk sanatçısı olarak İstanbul’da bulundu.