The series produced while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union aim to question collective memory and reflect the societal contradictions that existed at the time. In Yesterday's Sandwich, made from 1965 onwards, the artist shows a dual reality, ambiguous and poetic, juxtaposing beauty and ugliness. In Red (1968–1975), he underlines the omnipresence of the colour red, evoking the pervasive presence of the communist regime and the way it introduced itself into individual consciousness and collective memory. The series Luriki (1971–1985) and Sots Art (1975–1986) are a cynical reflection on the way propaganda images artificially idealise reality. The underside of the proselytised utopia is also revealed in Salt Lake (1986), images of bathers taken clandestinely on the shore of a lake in southern Ukraine.
Mikhailov also frequently uses humour as a weapon of subversion, a means of resistance to oppression and a potential stimulus to emancipation. This is the case in the series of provocative self-portraits I am not I (1992) and National Hero (1992), in which, more so than a direct criticism of society, he uses self-criticism and irony.
Other series created during and after the collapse of the USSR bear witness to the failure of both communism and capitalism in Ukraine and shed light on the origins of war: from By the ground (1991) and At Dusk (1993) to Case History (1997–1998); while in the emblematic series Case History there is a devastating portrayal of the disenfranchised in Kharkiv, left homeless by the new capitalist society.
Through his uncompromising approach to controversial subjects, Boris Mikhailov demonstrates the subversive power of art. For more than half a century, he has been bearing witness to the grip of the Soviet system on his country, constructing a complex and powerful photographic narrative of Ukraine's contemporary history that, in the light of current events, is all the more poignant and enlightening.
The exhibition is accompanied by the book Boris Mikhailov 1965–2022, Mörel / MEP, London-Paris 2023 (English language) and the bilingual publication (Italian and English), Saggi e Note. Essays and Notes, Mörel, London 2023, with texts by the artist and Simon Baker, director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris, Laurie Hurwitz, Leigh Ledare.