Boris Mikhailov

Why this artist matters now

Boris Mikhailov is a Ukrainian photographer whose work documents the social and political upheaval of post-Soviet Ukraine with unflinching directness and formal complexity. Working primarily in color photography since the 1960s, he has developed a practice that moves between portraiture, street documentation, and staged sequences, often focusing on marginalised communities and urban decay. His work has been recognised with the Hasselblad Award and the Shevchenko National Prize. Mikhailov's photographs combine documentary immediacy with a self-conscious awareness of the photograph's constructed nature, resisting easy categorisation between reportage and conceptual art.

Source: Marian Goodman · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago