Exhibition Celebrates Pioneering Finnish Photographer Claire Aho

A new exhibition celebrates the work of the pioneering Finnish photographer Claire Aho, who transformed postwar photography with her bold use of color and modern style.

Hundred Heroines is presenting Colour Me Modern: Claire Aho and the New Woman, a free exhibition on view until May 31. Hundred Heroines is the only U.K.-based charity focused on women in photography, celebrating past, present, and future photographers.

Aho (1925–2015), known as the “Grand Old Lady of Finnish Photography,” brought wit, color, and cinematic flair to postwar image-making. Working across fashion, advertising, and editorial photography, she embraced bold palettes and modern design at a time when much photography remained monochrome. The exhibition highlights how she helped shape a new visual language for Finland, presenting confident, contemporary women and transforming everyday scenes into carefully staged moments of style.

“There is so much bad news around at the moment, we wanted to show something cheerful,” Del Barrett, curator and founder of Hundred Heroines, says of the exhibition. “In the same way that Claire used color and a modern style to project confidence and optimism about the future, we hope this exhibition leaves visitors feeling uplifted, energised, and more hopeful about what lies ahead.”

Colour Me Modern situates Aho within a broader story of women photographers who shaped visual culture but were often overlooked. Her photographs capture a society in transition, reflecting both the commercial world and the everyday realities of women’s lives in the 1950s and 60s, demonstrating her lasting influence on photography in Finland and beyond.

Aho learned her craft from her father, Heikki Aho, a photographer and filmmaker. She began her career as a documentary filmmaker before opening her own studio in the 1950s, a formative period in Finnish design. Inspired by her father’s critique of poor-quality color photography in Finland, she developed techniques that produced vibrant, carefully composed images. Her work captured the liveliness of Helsinki’s cultural scene and quickly gained attention from commercial publications and brands. In 1957, she produced Helsinki, Itämeren tytär (Daughter of the Baltic Sea), the first color photobook in postwar Finland documenting city life. These images were later shown internationally, including in New York, Geneva, Nairobi, and Helsinki, in an exhibition organized by the United Nations to mark the centenary of Finnish independence in 2017.

Aho was the only woman to film the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. As wartime restrictions eased, she was able to work with color photography, capturing the event’s flags and celebrations, including Finland’s official blue-and-white cross. Her work there led to her being hired by Pathé News in New York as the only woman among 400 male reporters covering Finland.

Her commercial work reflected the optimism of postwar Finland. In ads for brands such as Fazer, Jaffa, and Paulig, she incorporated playful and inventive staging, including levitating confectionery with invisible thread and ornamental penguins among ice cream displays.

More information about Colour Me Modern: Claire Aho and the New Woman can be found here.

Image credits: All photos courtesy of Hundred Heroines.