Ola Lanko studied sociology at National University in Kiev, photography at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague and at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Over the past 10 years, Lanko has built a continuous ever-changing practice with a strong focus on building complex multifaceted frameworks. They include a trans-disciplinary approach manifested in a vast diversity of artistic strategies. From photography to immersive multi-sensorial installations, Lanko's practice consists of layered structures combining intuitive and rational wisdoms.
Currently, her practice is inspired by alternative knowledge, cognitive science, transformative processes, monism, plants, smells, sounds and textiles. She addresses rising inequality and fear, polarization and shattering of common realities, the crisis of meaning and trust, subconscious drives and desires.
Lanko uses a systematic and analytical way of thinking, together with a playful visual language as her method to work with photography and explore it as an artistic medium. She believes that in order to get the most from the visual information we are surrounded by, it is necessary to develop a qualitative approach to the process of looking, have a critical attitude towards images and be conscious about the place photography takes in our lives.