Courtesy boris mikhailov
Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov, 78, is regarded as one of the most important artists to emerge from the former USSR.
courtesy boris mikhailov
Mikhailov started pursuing photography seriously in the 1960s, after he was fired from his engineering job following a KGB raid. (They discovered nude photos he'd taken of his wife.)
courtesy boris mikhailov
"There was no resistance to official ideology, and this encouraged me to search for a new language in art. I was certain that it was impossible to photograph 'the normal' without reflecting on the wicked," he told CNN in an email.
courtesy boris mikhailov
Much of his Mikhailov -- including the "Yesterday's Sandwich" series for which he overlaid color photos taken during the '60s and early '70s -- is playful and surreal.
courtesy boris mikhailov
However, his most famous series, "Case History," was a stark look at the dismal living conditions in Ukraine after the fall of communism.
courtesy boris mikhailov
"Almost half a century ago, I began to accumulate my photographic material, which, like a mountaineer, I dragged all these years uphill, believing in its value and fighting for it," Mikhailov said.
courtesy boris mikhailov
"But it wasn't until the beginning of the 1990s, marked by the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Ukraine, that my past proved to be important for many."
courtesy boris mikhailov
This year, the photographer is showing a new series, "Parliament," at Ukraine's pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.
courtesy boris mikhailov
"These pictures are both of parliament and they are not of parliament, highlighting the uncertainty, we are living under," he explained during the exhibition's opening.
CNN  — 

At first, photography was just a hobby for Boris Mikhailov. It was only after was fired from his engineering job following a KGB raid in the 1960s (they discovered nude photos he’d taken of his wife) that he decided to dedicate himself wholly to the craft.

“I became a photographer under conditions of public irresolution, prohibitions and restrictions. In the USSR, official art only reflected a singular opinion, and everything else was considered not only wrong, but also harmful … I wanted to break through this wild bias and to find ways to circumvent these ‘prohibitions,’” Mikhailov said in an email.

“There was no resistance to official ideology, and this encouraged me to search for a new language in art. I was certain that it was impossible to photograph ‘the normal’ without reflecting on the wicked.”

Today, Mikhailov is regarded as one of the most important artists to emerge from the former USSR. While much of his work – including the “Yesterday’s Sandwich” series for which he overlaid color photos taken during the ’60s and early ‘70s – trades in metaphor (and often eroticism), it was his ability to document the truth that first brought him worldwide acclaim. His most famous series, “Case History,” intimately shot photographs of people living in devastated conditions in Ukraine after the fall of communism, has been displayed and celebrated around the world.

Courtesy Nadine Fraczkowski/La Biennale di Venezia
Anne Imhof's Golden Lion-winning "Faust" involves a five-hour performance in which the the audience is immersed in a world of music, sadness and sexuality.
Courtesy Nadine Fraczkowski/La Biennale di Venezia
Performers acted in groups or alone, tussling with each other or staring despondently.
Courtesy Cody Choi/Riccardo Tosetto
With this Las Vegas-style light installation, Cody Choi wanted to highlight how travel has become a show of wealth.
Courtesy Lee Wan
Using a specially developed algorithm, Lee Wan calculated how much time people around the world have to work in order to afford a meal. The more they have to work, the faster the hands on their clock turn.
Awakening/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
Visitors interact with Iwasaki's installation, a selection of three-dimensional works made from everyday objects such as towels and plastic garbage.
Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia
Jesse Jones' "Tremble Tremble," created for the Irish Pavilion, is a combination of performance, film and installation, and attempts to reclaim the witch as a feminist symbol.
Courtesy Akam Shex Hadi/Ruya Foundation
Belgian-born, Mexico-based artist Francis Alÿs (left) presented new work made while visiting an Iraqi refugee camp, and while embedded with a Kurdish soldiers during a Mosul campaign in 2016, exploring the role of the artist in war.
For the first time in history a Nigerian Pavilion made its debut at the 57th Venice Biennale. Nigeria now joins African countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique who have all had pavilions during the exhibition's 122-year history.

"Flying Girls" by Nigerian visual artist Peju Alatise, is based on the story of a housemaid who dreams of a realm where she is free to fly.
VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Visitors admire the artwork "Oracle" by US artist Mark Bradford, representing the American Pavilion.
Awakening/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
The Russian Pavilion presented "Theatrum Orbis", which imagines a dystopian future, by visual artists and sculptors Grisha Bruskin, Recycle Group and Sasha Pirogova.

“Almost half a century ago, I began to accumulate my photographic material, which, like a mountaineer, I dragged all these years uphill, believing in its value and fighting for it,” Mikhailov, now 78, said in an email. “But it wasn’t until the beginning of the 1990s, marked by the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Ukraine, that my past proved to be important for many.” This year, the photographer is showing a new series, “Parliament,” at Ukraine’s pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.

By capturing glitches in televised broadcasts, Mikhailov distorts the images of politicians like abstract paintings. The distortion seems a reflection of many people’s feeling about modern politics.

“These pictures are both of parliament and they are not of parliament, highlighting the uncertainty, we are living under,” he explained during the exhibition’s opening. “Parliaments are the main reason we have ended up with the state we have in the world, so I felt the need to interpret this common denominator.”

Mikhailov is waiting for the inspiration for his next big idea to strike him. Looking at the sociopolitical landscape, he is not enthusiastic for what may come next. However, as he puts it, “the worst has already happened.”