Oleg Kolimbet is a visual artist and researcher whose body of work employs photography, archival materials, bookmaking and installation. Founder and curator of the community of project photographers «Ohtalab». Author and teacher of courses on modern visual art.
Born in Bering Island (Kamchatka region), Oleg currently lives in St.Petersburg, Russia.
In his artistic practice Oleg explores the phenomenon of connection of individual and collective memory, as well criticaly examens the theme of changes in cultural landscape and the impact of these changes on people.
His work has been exhibited in different countries and is held in the collections of international institutions such as Aperture Foundation in the US, Universidad Comlutense in Spain, Museum of Modern Art in Russia and others.
Oleg’s first book “So Far, So Close. In Search of Bering Island” was shortlisted for the PhotoEspaña Best Book Award 2024 and Budapest International Foto Awards 2024.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2024 So far, so close. In search of Bering Island /Museum of the History of Photography, St.Petersburg, Russia
Group EXHIBITIONS:
2025 “1:1 Traces of memory” / Museum of Contemporary Art “Diaghilev”, Saint-Petersburg
2025 Fanzineist Vienna Art Book & Zine Fair / Semperdepot, Vienna
2025 Self-publishing festival “Zine Zine”(Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)
2024 “Dark matter in Artists’ book”/ Onkaf gallery, New Dehli, India
2024 Yerevan international photography festival/ Varpet, Yerevan, Armenia
2024 The best photography books of the year/Fernán Gómez. Centro Cultural de la Villa, Madrid, Spain
2024 Self-publishing festivals “Zherdela” ( Stavropol and Rostov-on-Don), “Nizina Fest” (St.Petersburg)
2023 Self-publishing festivals “Zherdela” ( Rostov-on-Don), “Nizina Fest” (St.Petersburg), “Korzina” (Sergiev Posad),
“Zine Zine”(Khabarovsk), “Razvorot” (Voronezh), “Samizdal”(St.Petersburg), “Booknol”(Samara)
2022 Self-publishing festivals “Nizina Fest” (Samara),“Zherdela” ( Rostov-on-Don), “Bespechatniki” (Tyumen)
2021 “Photo Union. Solidarity”festival/ Suzdal Kremlin, Russia
2021 Tales of the Unwritten /Stelio Crise State Library, Trieste, Italy
2021 Russian Photo Week / Gostiny Dvor, Moscow, Russia
2020 City VS Quarantine / Art Palace, Lviv, Ukraine
2020 Trieste Photo Days / Museo del Territorio, Cormòns, Italy
AWARDS:
2024 Budapest International Foto Awards/ Bronze in Book-Documentary
2024 PhotoEspaña Best Book Award / Shortlisted in First book
2021 CPOY 76 / Team Picture Story: Bryansk region. Silver
2021 Open contest of “Union of Photographic Artists of Russia”/ Nature. Finalist
Collections:
Museum of Modern Art Garage Library (Moscow. Russia)
Aperture Foundation Library (New York, US)
Universidad Complutense (Madrid, Spain)
PIC.A Escuela Internacional de Fotografía (Alcobendas, Spain)
The Manege Central Exhibition Hall Library (St.Petersburg, Russia)
Docdocdoc Library (St.Petersburg, Russia)
Nizina Library (St.Petersburg, Russia)
Art residence Mayak (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia)
PUBLICATIONS:
2024 Imprint (Russia)/ So far, so close
2023 Perimetro (Italy)/ Further only the forest
2022 RTVI (Russia)/ Further only the forest
2022 Bryanskaya ulitsa (Russia)/Only the forest remains
2021 Tales of the unwritten project (Italy)/Deep Down Inside
2021 Landscape Stories (Italy)/White beaches
2021 Republic (Russia) /Kronshtadt: another tomorrow
2021 Lenta.ru (Russia) /I was drawn here by my soul
2021 Spectaculum Magazine (Austria) /Theatre without walls
2020 Street Photography Magazine (USA) / Welcome to Baraholka
2020 Edge of Humanity Magazine (USA) / Cyclists From The Past
2020 Progressive street (Italy) / A little B/W story about two boys in a small town
2020 The Pictorial-list / Selected works
EDUCATION:
2025 The course on Art of Chinese calligraphy by Vera Belozerova , HSE University, Moscow
2025 Course on the promotion of the artist by Yulia Pavlova, Saint-Petersburg
2024 Art laboratory “Lived/Painted” for the study of ego-documents and diary practices , Saint-Petersburg
2020 – 2022 School of Modern Photography Docdocdoc, Saint-Petersburg
2022 Artist’s book workshop by Elena Kholkina and Feodora Kaplan, Saint-Petersburg
2022 Handmade bookbinding workshop by Irina Tarhanova, Saint-Petersburg
2010 – 2013 Cymru University of Wales, “MBA”, Cardiff
1989 – 1994 Saint Petersburg State University, “German Language and Literature”
INTERVIEWS / Artist Talks/ PANEL DISCUSSIONS:
2025 Collective artist talk “Re: Photo archive” on “Nizina”, St. Petersburg {Rus}
2025 Collective artist talk “Archive as the backbone of the book” on “Wordorder” bookshop, St. Petersburg
2025 Panel discussion “Crisis of Meanings” (“PhotoDepartment”, “Nizina”)”, St. Petersburg {Rus}
2024 Artist talk at the opening of exhibition “Lived/Painted”, St. Petersburg {Rus}
2024 Artist talk in the “Photo Studio” of the Palace of Students’ Youth, St. Petersburg
2024 Artist talk at Nizina Festival, St. Petersburg
2024 Panel discussion “About zines” on Radio “Petersburg”, St. Petersburg {Rus}
2024 Panel discussion “Zine as a way to preserve memory” in Gogol Library, St. Petersburg {Rus}
2024 Interview for Artistbook {Rus, Eng}
2023 Artist talk on Nizinafest Youtube{Rus}
2023 Interview for Artistbook {Rus, Eng}
2020 Interview for The Pictorial Mag {Eng}
TECHING AND CURATOR ACTIVITY:
from 2022 Founder and curator of the OKHTALAB community of project photographers
from 2025 Author’s courses on Storytelling and visual narratives. and “Other photography: China” (start in summer 2026)
PRINTS:
Аrchival pigment prints are available in Limited editions.
For purchasing information please visit Prints page.