Borys Andriyovych Mykhailov (1938) is an 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 Award and the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize.
Born in Ukraine, Mykhailov lived and worked for several decades in his hometown of Kharkiv, Ukraine. 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.
Mykhailov 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 color 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[by whom?] that within those works critical elements toward the existing political circumstances can be found.
In Case History, considered an important part of contemporary art, 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.
© 2022. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Borys Mykhailov or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Borys Mykhailov |
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| 1966-68 Untitled, 1966-68 from the series ‘Yesterday’s Sandwich’ |
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| Untitled, 1968-75 from The "Red" Series |
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| Untitled, 1973 from the series "City" |
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| Untitled, 1976-81 from the series "Luriki“ |
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| Untitled, 1977 |
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| Untitled, 1978 |
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| Untitled, 1978 |
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| Untitled, 1978 |
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| Untitled, 1980s from the series "Suzi et cetera" |
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| Untitled, 1981 from the series "Berdjansk Beach" |
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| Untitled, 1985-86 |
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| Salt Lake, Slavjansk, 1986-2000 |
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Salt Lake, Slavjansk, 1986-2000
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| Salt Lake, Slavjansk, 1986-2000 |
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| Salt Lake, Slavjansk, 1986-2000 |
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| Salt Lake, Slavjansk, 1986-2000 |
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| Untitled May, June 1991 |
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| Untitled May, June 1991 |
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| Untitled May, June 1991 |
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| Untitled, 1997-98 from the series "Case History" |
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| Untitled, 1997-98 from the series "Case History" |
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| Untitled, 1997-98 from the series "Case History" |
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| Untitled, 1997-98 from the series "Case History" |
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| Untitled, 1998-2000 from the series "Look at me I look at water" |
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| Case History Nº 149, 2000 |
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| Case History Nº 208, 2000 |
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| Case History Nº 288, 2000 |
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| Case History Nº 045, 2000 |
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| Untitled, 2000-10 from the series "Tea Coffee Cappuccino" |
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| When my Mama was young, 2012-13 |
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| Quad, 2017 |
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