Between 1984 and 1985, Boris Mikhailov worked on “Unfinished Dissertation”. He was gluing his pictures of everyday life in Kharkov, on the back of his uncle’s lecture notes. Later he added handwritten autobiographical comments, philosophical fragments and notes on photography in the empty spaces. His notes are a stimulating counterpoint to the photographs.
“The usefulness of something unfinished is that it may be taken or claimed as one’s own. Strange unfinishedness is an aesthetic principle.”- Boris Mikhailov
“Unfinished Dissertation”, SCALO, 1998 © Boris Mikhailov (pictures via: 5B4 Photography and Books)
“Unfinished Dissertation”, SCALO, 1998 © Boris Mikhailov (pictures via: 5B4 Photography and Books)
“Unfinished Dissertation”, SCALO, 1998 © Boris Mikhailov (pictures via: 5B4 Photography and Books)
“Unfinished Dissertation”, SCALO, 1998 © Boris Mikhailov (pictures via: 5B4 Photography and Books)
“Unfinished Dissertation”, SCALO, 1998 © Boris Mikhailov (pictures via: 5B4 Photography and Books)
“Unfinished Dissertation”, SCALO, 1998 © Boris Mikhailov (pictures via: 5B4 Photography and Books)
Margarita Tupitsyn wrote in an essay appended to Unfinished Dissertation, “Mikhailov saw no point in providing an explicit critique of Soviet society, either through mocking it or through unmasking its endless vices. Instead, his goal was to preserve Soviet reality’s sense of totality, but without its layer of systematically sustained external joy.”
“Unfinished Dissertation”, was published in 1998 by SCALO and you can still get a copy at PhotoBookStore and Schaden.
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#Boris Mikhailov #Unfinished Dissertation
