Boris Mikhailov: Salt Lake

In the southern Ukrainian town where Boris Mikhailov's father was born, a factory spills untreated water directly out into the open sea. Believing these waters to have healing powers, the local people enjoy swimming in it. All year round, families gather on the shore; onlookers might be reminded of a Russian Baden-Baden. Mikhailov shot the filmic, black and white sequence of Salt Lake in 1986, capturing a Russian bohemia of uncanny, eerie proportions and muted light. Scene upon strangely timeless scene sees rough, stocky men and thick, bikini-clad women, their hair tied up in scarves, all bathing naturally on a sea shore crowded with smokestacks, brick warehouses and industrial-size pipes that lead right out into the water, like a dock. The book itself was designed by the artist using Russian paper and binding materials, and is printed in a limited edition.