Boris Mikhailov (photographer)

Boris Andreyevich Mikhailov or Borys Andriyovych Mykhailov ( uk, Бори́с Андрі́йович Миха́йлов; born 25 August 1938) is a Soviet and Ukrainian photographer. He has been described as "one of the most important artists to have emerged from the former USSR." Mykhailov has been awarded the Hasselblad AwardPrevious award winners
Hasselblad Foundation. and the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize.

Life and work

Born in the former Soviet Union, Mykhailov lived and worked for several decades in his hometown of Kharkiv. He received an education as an engineer and started to teach himself photography. Today he is one of the most successful and well known among the photographers who were already active in the Soviet era. His work combines conceptual art and social documentary photography.

Mikhailov had his first exhibition at the end of the 1960s. After the KGB found nude pictures of his wife he was laid off his job as an engineer and started to work full-time as a photographer. From 1968 to 1975 he shot several series documenting everyday scenes, the best known of them being the ''Red Series''. In these photographs he mainly used the colour red, to picture people, groups and city-life. Red symbolized the October Revolution, political party and the social system of Soviet society. It is often said that within those works critical elements toward the existing political circumstances can be found.

In Mykhailov's ''Klebrigkeit'' (1982), he added explanatory notes, or diary-like text.

In ''Case History,'' he examines the consequences of the breakdown of the Soviet Union for its people. He systematically took pictures of homeless people. It shows the situation of people who after the breakdown of the Soviet Union were not able to find their place in a secure social system. In a very direct way Mykhailov points out his critique against the "mask of beauty" of the emerging post-Soviet capitalistic way of life.

In 2004 Mykhailov first exhibited in Berlin in an exhibition concerning people living at the edge of society.

He subsequently moved from Ukraine to Germany, where he resides as of 2022.

Publications

*''If I were a German.'' Dresden: Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 1995.
*''Boris Mikhailov.'' Stuttgart: Oktagon, 1995. .
*''By the Ground.'' Stuttgart: Oktagon, 1996. .
*''At DUSK.'' Stuttgart: Oktagon, 1996. .
*''Unfinished Dissertation.'' Zurich: Scalo, 1998. . With an essay by Margarita Tupitsyn.
*''Case History.'' Zurich: Scalo, 1999. .
*''Boris Mikhailov: The Hasselblad Award 2000.'' Zurich: Scalo, 2001. .
*''Äußere Ruhe / Äussere Ruhe (Drucksache N.F. 4).'' Düsseldorf: Richter, 2000. . Photographs and Russian text. Includes a German translation of the photograph notes, an interview with the artist (in German) by Marina Achenbach, and biographies (in German). Edition of 1000 copies.
*''Boris Mikhailov.'' Phaidon 55 series. London: Phaidon, 2000.
*''Salt Lake.'' 2002
*''Boris Mikhailov: A Retrospective.''
**Zurich: Scalo, 2003. .
**''Eine Retrospektive.''
*''Look at Me I Look at Water . . . or Perversion of Repose'', Göttingen: Steidl, 2004. .
*''Crimean Snobbism.'' Tokyo: Rathole, 2006.
*''Suzi Et Cetera.'' Cologne: Walther König, 2007. .
*''Yesterday's Sandwich.'' London: Phaidon, 2009. .
*''Maquette Braunschweig.'' 2010.
*''The Wedding.'' London: Mörel Books, 2011. .Page about ''The Wedding''
, Mörel Books.
*''Tea Coffee Cappuccino.'' Cologne: Walther König, 2011. .
*''Time is out of Joint.'' Berlin: Distanz, 2012. .
*''I Am Not.'' London: Morel, 2015. . With a text by Simon Baker. Edition of 500 copies.
*''Suzi et Cetera (Part 2).'' 89 Books, 2019.
*''Yesterday's Sandwich II.'' Tokyo: Super Labo, 2019.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* 2001: Saatchi Gallery, London.
* 2001: ''Case History & Heiner Müller Project,'' Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.
* 2002: ''The Insulted and the Injured,'' Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.
* 2003: ''Private Freuden, lastende Langweile, öffentlicher Zerfall - eine Retrospective,'' Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland.
* 2004: Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA.
* 2004: Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona.
* 2005: ''Look at me I look at Water,'' Centre de la Photographie, Geneve.
*2011: ''Case History'', Museum of Modern Art, New York.
*2019: ''The Forbidden Image,'' PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv.
*2019: ''The Space between Us,'' Kunsthalle Baden Baden, Germany.

Group exhibitions

*1993/1994: ''New Photography 9: Christopher Giglio, Boris Mihailov, Mark Steinmetz, and Beat Streuli'', Museum of Modern Art, New York
*2001: Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize, The Photographers' Gallery, London
* 2009: ''Ça me touche,'' Rencontres d'Arles festival, Arles, France. Curated by Nan Goldin.
* 2012: ''Revolution vs Revolution,'' Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon.

Awards

* 1996: Award of Coutts Contemporary Art Foundation, Switzerland.
* 1997: Albert Renger-Patzsch Buchpreis.
* 2000: Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, Sweden.
* 2001: Winner, Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize (later renamed Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize), The Photographers' Gallery, London.
* 2001: Foto-Buchpreis der Krazna-Krausz-Stiftung, London (Kraszna-Krausz Book Award).

See also

* Kharkiv School of Photography

Notes

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikhailov, Boris
Living people
1938 births
Ukrainian photographers
Soviet photographers
Artists from Kharkiv
Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
Ukrainian contemporary artists