The great Ukrainian photographer is being honored in Paris, where the House of European Photography is dedicating a large retrospective to him. Meet.
From the end of the 1960s, Boris Mykhailov photographed all the faces of Ukraine during the Soviet regime and in 1991. after independence. A major testament to his country’s evolution, his work is honored at the House of European Photography in Paris. , which dedicates its largest retrospective to the artist from Kharkiv, bringing together more than four hundred works.
The series Red Black Archive If I Were German or At dusk (which will also be on display at the Commodity Exchange in the fall), tell with irony, sometimes provocation, and often poetry about the diversity of its creation and the hardships and resilience of Ukraine. Over the years, this self-taught artist has never stopped playing with genres and codes, out of survival instinct, but also for fun. It is there, in the distortion of reality, the superposition of images and the conceptual and unique performances, that his unique, mischievously transgressive stamp is.
Miss Figaro. – You say that photography was your escape. What did you want to escape from?
Boris Mikhailov. – Photography allowed me to go from a life without a purpose to an existence that allows me to understand that we are doing something important.
What did you want to perpetuate when you started, in a context where propaganda was strong?
Truth. During the Soviet era, the images had to be positive and encouraging, not to represent the other, not to reflect reality. However, what we photograph aims to show not only what is desirable, but what is right, in this case, the diversity of people.
Have you ever felt in danger while doing your job?
At first, everything scared me. I was afraid of doing the wrong thing, choosing the wrong angle, developing the films badly… But the most terrible thing was happening on the street. anyone could call the police just because you were taking pictures and then they would question you. There was a very strong atmosphere of mistrust, a spy hunt everywhere. Taking and storing “forbidden” images was dangerous. So in the series yesterday’s sandwich I layered slides to create a never-before-seen image that captures another thought and the contradictions of Russian society: a naked woman and a building, a crowd and a loaf of bread. It was risky.
Humor in your photos is the best weapon against totalitarianism.
One of them is because totalitarianism has many enemies: analysis, comparison, contradiction… That said, I lived in a time when there were many restrictions, but also few freedoms. It allowed us to maintain hope and sometimes capture what we saw with humor, as in my series red, a color that caused Soviet ideology, oppression as well. Then time took its toll, and gradually others began to see things through a more advanced prism.
I lived in a time when there were many restrictions, but also some freedoms
Ukraine is at a turning point in its history. Does your sense of humor survive such circumstances?
I can’t laugh today. It’s hard for me to even smile. But I have faith in the future. I live in Berlin and the last time I went to Kyiv was in October 2021, for a short time. travel has become difficult for me between the epidemic and my health problems. Barely a year ago, the city was still full of energy and youth. The road will be dangerous, but I firmly believe that my country will remain free, upright and independent.
If you could go there, what would you shoot?
I would be no better than a war correspondent.
ukrainian newspaper from September 9 to January 15 in Paris, at the European Parliament. mep-en.org. With Boris Mikhailov, from October 14 to January 3, 2023, in the Bourse de commerce-Pinault collection. pinaultcollection.com
Source: Le Figaro
