This book is the first published work on Boris Mikhailov's early series "Yesterday's Sandwich," showcasing his innovative technique of overlaying color slides. Mikhailov, a prominent Russian photographer, captures striking tableaux of nude women, surreal urban landscapes, and everyday Soviet life from the late 60s to early 70s.
Though Mikhailov considers the conditions of his particular place of residence for over fifty years crucial to his work, he is not providing a recollection of the specific history of Khar'kov, Ukraine -- but rather bringing out the "condition humaine" of this city. Characterized by industry and Factories, by newly installed Coca Cola billboards as well as socialist architecture, Khar'kov provides the backdrop for Mikhailov's moving portraits. He describes the decay of social structures as well as of individual lives. We witness street kids taking drugs, adults in search of food, trying to re-install their social self by cleaning their bodies in the artist's own house. Despite the devastating poverty, the women and men in Mikhailov's images look back at us with great dignity. Their eyes express an unbroken will to survive in a social system that has fallen to its lowest possible level Mikhailov depicts very warmly the harshness of everyday life in a society not as far away from ours as we might think.
In seinem neuen Künstlerbuch „Temptation of Life“ verknüpft Boris Mikhailov in einem groß angelegten Dialog frühere Bilder mit neuen Fotografien, die 2017 in einem Kiewer Krematorium der Sowjetzeit und der naturüberwucherten Umgebung entstanden. Weitere Schauplätze sind verfallende Ecken ost- und westeuropäischer Städte, Schlafzimmer und Krankenhäuser, Gärten und Nachtbars. In über 200 fotografischen Diptychen schafft Mikhailov einen sich mit dem Buch verändernden Blick auf Wirklichkeit, eine Passage zwischen den Zeiten. Teils dokumentarisch, teils inszeniert, arbeitet er historische, menschliche, technische und kulturelle Beziehungen heraus, während er gleichzeitig mit spielerisch-formalen Entsprechungen zwischen den Motiven bewusst eine Distanz zum Narrativen, zur Realität des zu Sehenden schafft. Schon mit früheren Künstlerbüchern wie „Case History“ und „Unfinished Dissertation“ schuf Mikhailov Klassiker des Genres, die das Leben von ukrainischen Obdachlosen oder den Alltag unter dem Sowjetregime zum Thema hatten. Jetzt zieht er mit „Temptation of Life“ ein geradezu philosophisches Resümee über die Spiritualität des Alltags und die Vergänglichkeit allen Fleisches und Konsumabfalls, über Sex, Leben und Tod.
Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov has become famous for using the social documentary style to reveal the plight of marginalized communities, particularly as they have been dispersed in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet in his 1998 Case History series, for example, Mikhailov examined the lives of the homeless population in Kharkov, in the Ukraine. Mikhailov broaches entirely new territory with this substantial volume, a dynamic portrayal of a group of actors and non-actors in the German city of Braunschweig (Brunswick), all of whom were auditioning for roles in the Aeschylus play, The Persians . The play was produced as an allegory of war and a young democracy, with members of the public taking the role of the chorus, creating a contemporary resonance that Mikhailov was immediately drawn to. The photographer became a part of the production process, and his record of the occasion is divided across three "Shooting," "Bus Stop" and "Home Theater." He writes of his "My former slapdash Soviet methodologies united with German reality have helped me, I believe, to manifest something new. Perhaps something very small and simple but in some way very pure." Beyond this record of a social collaboration and a singular community, Mikhailov has made a moving portrait that addresses the future of Germany.
Since his photographic beginnings in the mid-1960s, Boris Mikhailov has created a diverse and impressive body of work. He has explored various photographic techniques and styles, blending conceptual and documentary approaches. This book showcases works from his largest exhibition in Germany, featuring both early experimental images and recent pieces from Berlin, with contributions from notable writers.
Boris Mikhailov is regarded as one of the most important artists in contemporary photography. His latest artist's book is dedicated to the hitherto little-known work Series of Four, which he produced in his hometown Kharkiv (USSR) in the early 1980s. The photographs exemplify Mikhailov as an attentive observer of the Soviet world, beyond the official ideology in a time of perceived stagnation, but also as an experimental artist in the environment of the Moscow Conceptualists. With more than 150 image groups and a text by Luisa Heese, the book offers for the first time a comprehensive overview of the Series of Four.