”Salt Lake” was made in 1986, and is a series of 50 photographs of a salt lake, near the birthplace of Boris Mikhailov’s father in the south of the Ukraine. His father remembered the lake as a popular spot in the 1920s, which was famous for the warm, salty water with healing properties. 

In 1986 Boris Mikhailov went back to this place and discovered, that while habits had not changed, the lake was now surrounded by factory chimneys, brick warehouses and industrial-sized pipes discharging waste into the water. He captured strange scenes, in which people bathing in murky waters, and don’t care about the chaotic landscape around them.

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris  

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“Salt Lake”, 1986” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“There’s a kind of interplay between the old and the new going on here. […] It was an outworking of an old idea I’d entertained before: we’re right there, and yet not there. It’s both today—and a long long time ago.“ - Boris Mikhailov

”Salt Lake” was published by Steidl in 2002. The book itself was designed by Boris Mikhailov, using Russian paper and binding materials. You can still purchase a copy at Steidl.

@1 year ago with 1 note
(± )
#Boris Mikhailov #Salt Lake