Untitled, from the series Case History
Boris Mikhailov
Ukrainian, born 1938
1997-98
A chromogenic print that shows a man lying in the snow beside an earthen mound, made to record and confront the human consequences of post‑Soviet social dislocation.
What strikes you is the intimate, almost casual framing—his head propped on the mound, a worn bag at his side—set against a muted winter field and a crumbling apartment block so that personal vulnerability reads as a quiet, documentary tableau.
As part of Mikhailov’s Case History series, this work helped push documentary photography toward a raw, sometimes staged scrutiny of marginalized lives after the Soviet collapse, insisting that social collapse be seen and felt by viewers.
Medium
Chromogenic print
Dimensions
93 × 49 15/16" (236.2 × 126.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Susan and Peter MacGill
Accession
988.2013
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
