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Boris Mikhailov "Yesterday’s Sandwich"
Fujii Daimaru Black Storage
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Artists
Boris Mikhailov
Born in 1938 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Boris Mikhailov is a self-taught photographer. Since the 1960s, he has been creating a haunting record of the tumultuous changes in Ukraine that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disastrous consequences of the USSR’s dissolution.
Trained as an engineer, Mikhailov was given a camera to document the state-owned factory where he was employed. He also used it to take nude photographs of his wife and was fired after these were discovered by KGB agents. He then decided to take up photography full-time in reaction to the idealized, propaganda images that permeated Soviet life, embarking on a pioneering practice encompassing documentary photography, conceptual work, painting, and performance.
Mikhailov and his wife Vita divide their time between Berlin and Kharkiv. In 2022, a major retrospective of his work was organized at the MEP (Maison européenne de la photographie) in Paris.
At Kyotographie 2023, the slideshow of Mikhailov’s series Yesterday’s Sandwich will be exhibited.
One day Mikhailov inadvertently threw a bunch of slides onto the bed, and two stuck together, like a sandwich. The result was a ‘double world,’ ambiguous and poetic, juxtaposing beauty and ugliness, that acts as a metaphor for society’s contradictions at a time when encryption was the only way to explore forbidden subjects such as politics, religion, and nudity.
In Yesterday’s Sandwich, he superimposes pairs of color slides, creating enigmatic and surrealistic images that undermine official imagery by layering it with scenes of ordinary life.
Trained as an engineer, Mikhailov was given a camera to document the state-owned factory where he was employed. He also used it to take nude photographs of his wife and was fired after these were discovered by KGB agents. He then decided to take up photography full-time in reaction to the idealized, propaganda images that permeated Soviet life, embarking on a pioneering practice encompassing documentary photography, conceptual work, painting, and performance.
Mikhailov and his wife Vita divide their time between Berlin and Kharkiv. In 2022, a major retrospective of his work was organized at the MEP (Maison européenne de la photographie) in Paris.
At Kyotographie 2023, the slideshow of Mikhailov’s series Yesterday’s Sandwich will be exhibited.
One day Mikhailov inadvertently threw a bunch of slides onto the bed, and two stuck together, like a sandwich. The result was a ‘double world,’ ambiguous and poetic, juxtaposing beauty and ugliness, that acts as a metaphor for society’s contradictions at a time when encryption was the only way to explore forbidden subjects such as politics, religion, and nudity.
In Yesterday’s Sandwich, he superimposes pairs of color slides, creating enigmatic and surrealistic images that undermine official imagery by layering it with scenes of ordinary life.
Schedule | Apr 15 (Sat) 2023-May 14 (Sun) 2023 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Adults ¥800, Students ¥600 *For more information about Kyotographie Passport, please visit the official website. | ||||
| Website | https://www.kyotographie.jp/en/programs/2023/boris-mikhailov/ | ||||
| Venue | Fujii Daimaru Black Storage | ||||
| Location | 318 Tabiya-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 600-8038 | ||||
| Access | 2 minute walk from exit 10 at Kyoto-kawaramachi Station on the Hankyu line, 10 minute walk from exit 3 at Shijo Station on the Karasuma subway line. | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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