Crimean Snobbism

Softcover | First Edition | 104 pages

Published by Rat Hole Gallery, Tokyo, 2006.

Crimean Snobbism is Boris Mikhailov’s first major body of work to turn the camera on himself. Produced during a 1982 trip to Crimea with his wife Vita and a group of friends, the series navigates the boundary between performance and document, using the vernacular aesthetics of the snapshot to examine self-representation, class aspiration, and the absurdity of Soviet conformity. Leisure becomes a site of subtle resistance, where constructed poses and apparent spontaneity coalesce into a critical portrait of private life under surveillance. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at Rat Hole Gallery, Tokyo.

Condition: very good