Boris Mikhailov was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine and came to prominence in the 1990s. His work often focuses on the politics of everyday life during the Soviet era and its aftermath. In Red 1968–75, Mikhailov depicts life in and around Kharkiv, using the colour red as a symbolic reminder of the inescapable presence of the Soviet regime. Each image contains something red. His work has a bleak and uncompromisingly graphic style that draws attention to the subjects that may otherwise be ignored, offering a subjective, even poetic re-framing of the effects of social and political conditions.
Boris Mikhailov 'Photography was a way out'
The politics of everyday life during the Soviet era and its aftermath
