
Boris Mikhailov: The Hasselblad Award 2000
Boris Mikhailov
Hasselblad Foundation
English
Edited by Gunilla Knape.
Texts by Gunilla Knape and Boris Groys.
Hardcover
88 pages
290 x 250 mm
2000
ISBN 9783908247425
This book was published on Boris Mikhailov’s receipt of the Hasselblad Award in 2000. This photobook focuses on a never-before published series of work from the late 1970s: Mikhailov photographed ”The Dancers” in his hometown in the Ukraine during a period when the former Soviet Union was a reality, before the appearance of Gorbachov and “perestroika”. We observe the open-air dancing scene with great astonishment; seeing older and younger people enjoy themselves in a way that might be contradictory to the images we might have about everyday life in the old Soviet Union. These cheerful images remind us how little women and men need to have a good time. An essay by Russian art critic Boris Groys and an exhaustive interview are also included.
(Source: https://www.amazon.com/Boris-Mikhailov-Hasselblad-Award-2000/dp/390824742X)
About the Artist
Ukrainian-born Boris Mikhailov is one of the leading photographers from the former Soviet Union. For over 30 years, he has explored the position of the individual within the historical mechanisms of public ideology, touching on such subjects as Ukraine under Soviet rule, the living conditions in post-communist Eastern Europe, and the fallen ideals of the Soviet Union. Although deeply rooted in a historical context, Mikhailov’s work also incorporates profoundly engaging and personal narratives of humor, lust, vulnerability, aging, and death.
(Source: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1125)
About the Publisher
The Hasselblad Foundation is a unique platform for photography in the Nordic region. The photographic research and exhibitions complement each other and are closely tied through publications as well as frequent symposiums. The Foundation aims to promote research and academic teaching in the natural sciences and photography. This is achieved by awarding stipends in the natural sciences and photography, the Hasselblad Award, photographic research and photography exhibitions. Since 1999, there is also a research library, currently the only photography book library in Sweden.
hasselbladfoundation.org