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'Boris Mikhailov's photographs - human wreckage, variously drunk, mad, glue-sniffing, filthy, delusional, impoverished, sick, hysterical and defeated, sloping towards death - present a dismal and unredemptive portrait of outcast humanity in post-Soviet Russia, even if some also have a terrible, Bruegelian humour. The cumulative effect is of an abject normality, though one which is almost impossible for us to get used to.
'The artist pays the homeless "bomzhes" in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov to pose for him. He gets them to drop their pants or open their ragged coats to show the camera their diseases, their Lenin tattoos, their scars. Bare arses in the snow, cold white breasts and bellies, raddled flesh. How much Mikhailov goads or coerces his subjects and how much they are complicit, or aggressively confrontational and exhibitionistic when faced with his camera and his coins, one cannot always tell. As he sees it, his payment duplicates the economics of the new Russia. Questions about the morality of these images are surely part of their subject. Harrowing they may be, but the photographer does not seem to me to be unscrupulous. "I am no better than anyone else," he appears to be saying. And no different, either.
There is a sense of panic in Mikhailov's images which has nothing to do with expressionism, or social commentary. The marginal are at the very centre of things here, as is their economic relation to the photographer. We are made aware of his proximity to his subjects, and of the uncertainty of our own distance from them. What remarkable, unforgettable, awful images they are. Their impact is not lessened or dulled over hundreds of examples. Part of me wished I had never looked at them.' -- Adrian Searle
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Extras
Boris Mikhailov: Time is out of joint
Arts and Culture: MoMA presents 'Case History'
Boris Mikhailov 'A Retrospective, the Book'
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Further
Boris Mikhailov @ Wiki
BM's 'Case History' @ MoMA
BM's photos of Russia @ English Russia
BM @ Sprovieri Gallery
BM @ Galerie Suzanne Taraieve
BM @ Pace/MacGill Gallery
'From Documentation to Staging: the Photographs of Boris Mikhailov'
'Behold the Anonymous Downtrodden'
The books of Boris Mikhailov
1000 WORDS WORKSHOP WITH BORIS MIKHAILOV IN FEZ, MOROCCO
'Schorr edits Mikhailov' @ Frieze
'The Naked Truth: Boris Mikhailov's Staged Realism
'THE PEOPLE WHO GOT INTO TROUBLE: BORIS MIKHAILOV'
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Interview
from Inside/Out
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How did the series Case History come about?
Boris Mikhailov: What is truth or not truth? My feelings about this series have changed over time, so this is how I understand it now. I am from the Ukraine, but had been living in Berlin for a year on a stipend. After being away, I came back to my home town of Kharkov and it was very different from when I left. What was different? There were lots of color advertisements and other signs of the new capitalism, but when you looked more closely you could see a new society of people—the homeless.
There were no homeless people in the Soviet era?
BM: There may have been some, but it was not common. Everybody had to have a job and the homeless were certainly not photographed. At that time it was illegal to photograph anything that made life and society look bad. For example, I was once arrested in Soviet times because I made pictures of people drinking, which did not fit into the Soviet propaganda. Now I was able to take pictures of what had been forbidden before, and this presented new possibilities to me as a photographer. With Case History, I saw it as my social responsibility to photograph these people. I saw how homeless people were helped in the West, but the government in the Ukraine had no money to do this. I think of the United States, when photographers like Dorothea Lange were hired by the government to photograph the Great Depression.
How did you find the people in your photographs?
BM: First I should say that everything I do is in collaboration with my wife, Vita. When I saw somebody that I wanted to photograph, who was interesting to me, she would talk to them and help them. Then we would talk with them and collaborate with them to make a picture. They had no money, so I would pay them, to help them.
I know the issue of paying your models is controversial.
BM: This is the first time I paid my models. I don’t think this is an issue. If models get paid to appear in an advertisement, nobody cares. Why can’t I? This gave me the possibility to photograph them, and gave them the possibility to live. This is what Western photographers would do when they came to Russia to make pictures. The models would be paid as if they were posing nude at the art academy.
What do you say to people who do not think these are “real” documentary pictures?
BM: Documentary cannot be truth. Documentary pictures are one-sided, only one part of the conversation. Anyway, documentary pictures are not possible anymore with digital technology as nobody believes in the truth of pictures. These are real people in Case History. The only thing that changes is how they are posed and that they are naked. I posed these people in poses that remind me of the history of art or of gestures that I saw in life. Sometimes I asked them to repeat a gesture that they made so I could photograph it. With Case History, I wanted to find a metaphoric image of life. For example, how do you show prostitution? Nakedness doesn’t begin to describe this condition, so I asked my models to pull up their clothes as a metaphor for their life. For Case History, old documentary methods weren’t possible—it was important and necessary for me to find new methods to show this life.
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Show
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*
Hey. ** Misanthrope, Thanks again for yesterday, buddy. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say much about this, because it makes me too upset, but George tried to kill himself once in his teens when he didn't have a gun, and the next day he realized it was stupid, and he felt really embarrassed about it, so ... yeah. The guns thing in general ... yeah, I think I'm going to stay out of the discussion 'cos it's such a complicated issue, and it just stresses me out, and doing the p.s. when stressed out is a huge drag, so I'll let you guys bat ideas and solutions around, and I'll just read and think, I think. ** Billy Lloyd, Hey. That Bjork gig you wanted to go to is the circus tent one. I'm not sure what the Zenith one is, but, yeah, I might end up there given the prices, etc., even though the tent one sounds more magical, but ... Dilemma. I had to save your noodle recipe until tonight 'cos someone snagged me for a dinner out at the last minute. So, news/review tomorrow, I guess. All in all, I think I'll take a solitary-ish Xmas over yours. My family members live scattered all over the place, and some aren't speaking to others, so it's usually just me and my sister's brood, since we're at least sort of on speaking terms, but she and her family are huge pot heads, and I don't smoke pot, so I usually just end up tiptoeing around in their zone and feeling alien anyway. How and what was your adventure? I certainly did/do hope that nothing goes/went horribly wrong. Probably not, right? See you on the other side. ** Nasa-ārya, Good God, You-x? That's really you? How in the world are you, and what in the world have you been up to all these ... years? Has it been years? Real, real, real good to see you, pal, and I sure hope I will again. Love from here and from me. ** Will, Heavy, giant congratulations to you, Will! How did you celebrate? How does relative freedom taste? ** xTx, Ha ha. Shouldering each other's shoulder is nice. Or should be. Unless everybody hates that eBook and decides that we must really suck to have agreed to be in it. But I suppose there's not a real chance of that. I'm kind of where you are re: Xmas, and, yeah, to finish our respective novels next year. Early next year even. What do you say for early? I can't promise anything on my end, though. Oh, boy. ** David Ehrenstein, That is spartan, but, you know, quality over the 'nt' word. ** Scunnard, Even after all these years, it still takes me a minute to remember that there's a visual named Phil Collins. So, I had a nice, head-scratchy initial 60 seconds with your comment. He must have chosen Phil over Phillip for a conceptually programmed reason, right? The back burner is where all the best stuff is. I can't prove that, it just feels right. Family stuff, ugh. Sucks how families have lifelong backstage passes to one's emotions. Anyway, it sounds like runoff to me, and they wouldn't have called it runoff if the off wasn't important. Or something. I need more coffee. ** Rewritedept, Hey. I'm going to take a pass on the guns discussion, like I said. I need my nervous system low-key at the moment. I guess I will say that if scientists ever figure out a way to make human skin bullet proof, I could see feeling sympathy for people who want to collect assault rifles and AK-47s and stuff maybe. We got rain, but we always do. Whatev', right? Without Ringo, the Beatles would have been much more distanced and harder to feel affection towards. He's a great drummer in that minimalist mode, like Mo Tucker, et al. I met him once. He was incredibly nice and funny. Cool Triumph shirt. You wear it like a pro, man. Haps ... mine? Just trying to get back into my novel mostly. Pretty low-key here. Want to see some movies, but everyone I know is gone, so I guess I would have to go solo. Yeah, not much. Trying to re-crack the novel. That's all I care about du jour. My birth name is Clifford Dennis Cooper. When I got my driver's license, I told them my name was Dennis Clifford Cooper. So, that's on my driver's license, and my passport says Clifford Dennis Cooper. That was a big mistake. I'm constantly having hassles because of that. So, I assume that Clifford is the name you dig. I do too. If it hadn't have been my dad's name as well, I would be Cliff Cooper right now. ** 5STRINGS, Godzilla's a good bud. And there's so much of him. And his friends and enemies are cool too. I was kind of into early David Johansen, but then Buster Poindexter nipped that crush in the bud with a chainsaw. I never want to be a bottom. I'm weird that way. That Damon and DiCaprio in an elevator scene thing sounds so familiar. Shit, now I'm going to be trying to place that memory all day. It's okay, though. The day's roomy. I'm all ixnay on Twitter for me. For tweeting, I mean. Reading others' tweets is okay. Google Plus or whatever it's called keeps trying to drag me inside. I say uh-uh. It is beginning to feel a lot like Xmas. What's up with that? Tab Sore is a big sweety in my scheme of sweetness. Nice! Everyone, greet 5STRINGS' Tab Sore.** Sypha, The blank writing slate doesn't excite you at all? I understand the worry, but I guess there's something so freeing about seeing a Word doc or piece of paper as a Stargate or something. I don't know. Interesting that you nailed down your work's ongoing commonality. I would do that with mine if the commonality wasn't as obvious as a sledgehammer to the face. I like your new idea. I like it a lot. I hope it holds. ** JoeM, Ha ha, hi, Joe! ** Statictick, Hi, N. Well, early on, Gracq heavily self-identified as a Surrealist. He was discovered by Andre Breton. So I guess that's why surrealism and his stuff gets discussed in combo. I know what you mean, but, if you read more of him, I think you'll see that the connection makes at a little more sense. ** Flit, Hi, F. Got delayed yesterday and am trying out your thing re: the blog today, and I'll get back to you later, gator. ** Steevee, Great, cool, that your list is real and up! I'll pore over it a little later. Everyone, d.l. and great finesser of film art Steevee has his list of Best Political Documentaries of 2012 up on Fandor. It is highly, highly worth your time, so please click this. Oh, ugh, about Laura Albert following you. Yuck, bleah, urgh. ** _Black_Acrylic, Loving the new YnY a lot. Your piece on Zurn is terrific! You undersold it, man. Anyway, I'm getting pleasure galore and will continue the pleasure feast today. Kudos, and thank you! There has to be a bad horror film, right? Law of averages and all that. Bad in a way that badness can not justify. I have to think. ** Cobaltfram, Hey. Try to make yourself fall in love with making corrections, if you can. It'll make your writing life much easier even if it makes your novels take forever to get finished. Maybe, on second thought, never mind. My head's okay, ha ha. I didn't get to Office Depot, but I found an almost dead pen that had fallen into the sinews of the couch, and that will be my pacifier until I hit the store today. Whew! Close one! Yeah, I took too long off the novel writing. Dumb, but it's done, and so it goes. Things otherwise are fine enough, thank you. Pictures with the family! For your annual photo-laden family Xmas card? My mom always made us line up for our Xmas card portrait. ** Un Cœur Blanc, You're back up north? The week went fast. I'm inferring that the trip went well. It did, right? That first being back home feeling is so nice. You're listening to Pinback? Yay, awesome, they're one of my big faves, and I don't know a lot of fellow Pinback lovers. Awesome! Love, me. ** Okay. I have a really cheerful galerie show for you today. No, I don't. Sorry. But it's work I thought you should see. So please do? See you tomorrow.