| Boris Mikhailov was born in Kharkov, Ukraine in 1938. Working as a technical engineer, Mikhailov was first introduced to the camera in his late twenties after being assigned an educational film project surrounding the factory in which he worked. Following the discovery of then pornographic works in his home, Mikhailov was terminated from his position. It was then that Mikhailov decided to undertake photography as a lifetime pursuit. Since his first solo exhibition in Britain in the late 1960s, Mikhailov depicts the individual in relation to the public sphere. Diverse in both content and procedure, Mikhailov uses documentary as well as staging and studio techniques to contrive commentary on the Soviet Regime and in later years the downfall of the Soviet Union. Acclaimed as the foremost photographer out of the former Soviet Union, Mikhailov's work appears strictly in series. Recent exhibitions have appeared at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Kunsthalle (Zurich), and the Sprengel Museum (Hanover). Today, Mikhailov lives and works in both Kharkov and Berlin. |
