BORIS MIKHAILOV

Boris Mikhailov is one of the most prominent photographers from the former Soviet Union. Active for over 30 years, his work has explored the individual within the collective ideology of communism. His photographs are raw depictions of fallen ideals in post-communist Europe, sparsely populated with grotesque and humourous figure. Lust, vulnerability, death and social poverty are revealed as profoundly embedded within the human psyche. His well know Case History series (1997-98) explore the immense dislocation of people following the colapse of the Soviet Union. The unflinching images of dissolution, madness and decaying human wreckage present a dismal portrait of humanity. Mikhailov does not avoid the moral complexities of the new Russia, paying his models to pose in ambiguous situations that displaces the images from the purely documentary. Published in 1999, the series won the Krazna-Krausz Photography Book Award.