bio

Maya Økland (b. 1980, Bergen, Norway) is an artist and curator with an MFA in photography from the Bergen National College of Arts in 2005. Her artworks are in the collections of KORO (2024), KPA (2023), KODE Bergen Art Museum, Norway (2020) and Halland Art Museum, Sweden (2018). Økland has exhibited at various art institutions and galleries such as Tenthaus, Oslo; Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo; Varbergs Konsthall, Sweden; Fotogalleriet, Oslo; Gallery SíM, Iceland; Telemark Kunstsenter, Norway; Kreuzberg Pavilion, Berlin; Galleria Huuto, Finland; Kjubh Kunstverein, Cologne; Kulturhuset Sermermiut, Greenland; Hasselblad Center, Sweden. Her photobook, 'Stranger in Motherland,' was published by Teknisk Industri in 2017 and she is a member of the artist photographer collective 'A Female Gaze' since 2022. In 2025 Økland is publishing her second photobook Worried Landscapes.

As a curator, Maya Økland co-founded and co-curated the artist-run gallery KNIPSU in Bergen from 2010 to 2015. She worked at Kunsthall Stavanger as curatorial assistant to Hanne Mugaas (2015), Interim Director and Curator (2016), and Coordinator (2017). In 2021, Økland was art advisor for the public sculpture 'Benkene til Kim' by artist Lina Viste Grønli, dedicated to the legendary gay rights activist Kim Friele (1935-2021). She co-curated the exhibition Mother's Nature at Sector 1 Gallery in Bucharest, Romania (2023). In 2025 she is Interim Director of Bergen Center for Electronic Art (BEK) from March-June. Økland is also a writer and was part of the editorial staff of the feminist magazine Fett (2013-23), curating art as their image editor and frequently contributing with texts on art and feminism.

Maya Økland lives and works in Oslo.