At a time when entrance fees often head north of £20, it is certainly worth paying £10 to see The Photographers’ Gallery’s retrospective of the influential Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov. I say that partly on grounds of the quality of the work: no one uses the context in which photographs are taken more tellingly than Mikhailov, who is restlessly imaginative, cuttingly mischievous, and has his own way of making ‘bad’ photographs good. But the two-floor show is also impressively comprehensive, presenting twenty of Mikhailov’s most important series from the 60’s onwards. And it is superbly presented, with clear sequencing, helpful explanations and plenty of enlightening quotes from Mikhailov himself.
Take ‘Red’1968-78, which brings together 84 images taken in Mikhailov’s home city of Kharkiv, all of which contain the colour, so anatomising how communist ideology permeated everyday life. He explains that “The word ‘red’ in Russian has the same route as the word for beauty, it also means revolution and evokes blood and the red flag… Demonstrations and parades are an important part of this series. It’s a place where one of the main images of Soviet propaganda – the face of happy Soviet life, securing its future – was created. They became absolutely kitschy and vulgar, not a carnival but some kind of Soviet crusade. I sometimes felt that I was surrounded by herd of cynics, victims and fools, followed by people wearing red ribbons as if they were policemen. As if the regime was using the people’s desire to celebrate for its own ends. And it was important to me to photograph them in such a way that you could tell the ‘Soviet’ from the ‘human’.”
Boris Mikhailov: ‘Ukrainian Diary’ is at The Photographers’ Gallery to 22nd Feb 2026
All images Boris Mikhailov: from the series ‘Red’, 1968-78
