“Yesterday’s Sandwich” was made in the late 60s and early 70s. “Sandwich” in this case, means the technique of creating a new picture by overlaying two slides. Boris Mikhailov creates with this technique, an extraordinary double world of Soviet drudgery Juxtaposed with sex and beauty.

In the earlier years, Boris Mikhailov was just able to show this body of work in slideshows, because at this time, paper was too expensive. Just in the early 90s he managed to print his work on paper. The first edition was formed of 52 colour tableaux printed on separate unbound boards and enclosed within a specially created folder and slip case.

The new edition was published 2009 by Phaidon, in a hardbound format. You can get a copy directly by Phaidon. 

“Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“This was a period of hidden meanings and coded messages in all genres,” Mikhailov writes in the essay accompanying the book. “Given the scarcity of real news, everyone was on the lookout for the smallest piece of new information, hoping to uncover a secret or read between the lines. Encryption was the only way to explore forbidden subjects such as politics, religion, nudity.”

Here is a nice short video, where Boris Mikhailov explains some pictures of his series.

@1 year ago with 10 notes
(± )
#Boris Mikhailov #Yesterday's Sandwich 
Plate No 48 from the “Yesterday’s Sandwich” series © Boris Mikhailov “This image was part of a series I put together in 2006 called Yesterday’s Sandwich, in which two pictures from the past were combined. My friends have been superimposed over a photograph of a poster I saw in town at that time. I don’t remember what it was for, but it was probably advertising a demo or an important communist, as all posters at that time were ideological. Valera is holding the racket like a fighter bearing a sword. That’s why the shot reminds me of the final verse of my favourite Oscar Wilde poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. I think of it as my poem: And all men kill the thing they love, By all let this be heard,   Some do it with a bitter look,   Some with a flattering word,   The coward does it with a kiss,   The brave man with a sword!   For me, everything started with this shot. I felt like an artist for the first time in my life.” - Boris Mikhailov  Read more on theguardian.com

Plate No 48 from the “Yesterday’s Sandwich” series © Boris Mikhailov

“This image was part of a series I put together in 2006 called Yesterday’s Sandwich, in which two pictures from the past were combined. My friends have been superimposed over a photograph of a poster I saw in town at that time. I don’t remember what it was for, but it was probably advertising a demo or an important communist, as all posters at that time were ideological. Valera is holding the racket like a fighter bearing a sword. That’s why the shot reminds me of the final verse of my favourite Oscar Wilde poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. I think of it as my poem:


And all men kill the thing they love,

By all let this be heard,  

Some do it with a bitter look,  

Some with a flattering word,  

The coward does it with a kiss,  

The brave man with a sword!  


For me, everything started with this shot. I felt like an artist for the first time in my life.” - Boris Mikhailov 

Read more on theguardian.com

@1 year ago with 6 notes
(± )
#Boris Mikhailov #Yesterday's Sandwich 

“Yesterday’s Sandwich” was made in the late 60s and early 70s. “Sandwich” in this case, means the technique of creating a new picture by overlaying two slides. Boris Mikhailov creates with this technique, an extraordinary double world of Soviet drudgery Juxtaposed with sex and beauty.

In the earlier years, Boris Mikhailov was just able to show this body of work in slideshows, because at this time, paper was too expensive. Just in the early 90s he managed to print his work on paper. The first edition was formed of 52 colour tableaux printed on separate unbound boards and enclosed within a specially created folder and slip case.

The new edition was published 2009 by Phaidon, in a hardbound format. You can get a copy directly by Phaidon. 

“Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

Yesterday’s Sandwich”, 1960/70” © Boris Mikhailov/Suzanne Tarasieve Paris

“This was a period of hidden meanings and coded messages in all genres,” Mikhailov writes in the essay accompanying the book. “Given the scarcity of real news, everyone was on the lookout for the smallest piece of new information, hoping to uncover a secret or read between the lines. Encryption was the only way to explore forbidden subjects such as politics, religion, nudity.”

Here is a nice short video, where Boris Mikhailov explains some pictures of his series.

1 year ago
#Boris Mikhailov #Yesterday's Sandwich 
Plate No 48 from the “Yesterday’s Sandwich” series © Boris Mikhailov “This image was part of a series I put together in 2006 called Yesterday’s Sandwich, in which two pictures from the past were combined. My friends have been superimposed over a photograph of a poster I saw in town at that time. I don’t remember what it was for, but it was probably advertising a demo or an important communist, as all posters at that time were ideological. Valera is holding the racket like a fighter bearing a sword. That’s why the shot reminds me of the final verse of my favourite Oscar Wilde poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. I think of it as my poem: And all men kill the thing they love, By all let this be heard,   Some do it with a bitter look,   Some with a flattering word,   The coward does it with a kiss,   The brave man with a sword!   For me, everything started with this shot. I felt like an artist for the first time in my life.” - Boris Mikhailov  Read more on theguardian.com
1 year ago
#Boris Mikhailov #Yesterday's Sandwich