The Photographer Who Refused to Look Away
Dive into the life and career of acclaimed Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov.
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"rollercoaster retrospective"
"essential viewing"
"humanity, humour and mischief shine everywhere"
- Financial Times
Ukrainian Diary is the first major UK retrospective of work by Boris Mikhailov, one of the most influential contemporary artists from Eastern Europe. Mikhailov has explored social and political subjects for more than fifty years through his experimental photographic work.
From the series “National Hero”, 1991 © Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov
Described as an outsider, a trickster and ‘a kind of proto-punk', Mikhailov combines humour, mischief and tragedy in his pioneering practice, ranging from documentary photography and conceptual work, to painting and performance. Since the 1960s, he has been creating a powerful record of the tumultuous changes in Ukraine that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Ukrainian Diary brings together work from over twenty of his most important series, up to his more recent projects. Viewed today, against the backdrop of current events and ongoing war in Ukraine, Mikhailov's work is all the more poignant and enlightening.
Get to know the artist
Born in 1938 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and trained as an engineer, Boris Mikhailov is a self-taught photographer. Early in his career, he was given a camera to document the state-owned factory where he was employed. He used it to take nude photographs of his wife, which he developed in the factory’s laboratory, and was fired after they were found by KGB agents.
He has received many prestigious awards, among them the 2015 Goslar Kaiserring Award, the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize (now the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize) in 2001 and the Hasselblad Award in 2000. He represented Ukraine at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and again in 2017.
His work has been exhibited in major international venues, including Tate Modern, London; MoMA, New York; and Berlinische Galerie and C/O Berlin in Berlin, the Pinchuk Art Center in Kyiv, the Sprengel Museum in Hannover and the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Baden Baden.
He lives between Berlin and Kharkiv with his wife, Vita.
In partnership with Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris.
Curators: Laurie Hurwitz and Shoair Mavlian in dialogue with Boris and Vita Mikhailov
Please be aware that the exhibition includes sensitive content. This includes images of nudity, scenes of poverty, depictions of sex acts, violence and war. Please speak to a member of staff if you have any questions or concerns or contact our team at info@tpg.org.uk
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Browse a selection of publications and bold, bright full-bleed exhibition posters.
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