Boris Redko

Boris Redko (b. 1959) belonged to the photographic community of Kharkiv from the early 1980s. In 1987 he joined the Gosprom group. His inspiration (which he shared with the other group artists) was street photography. Redko used simple rangefinder cameras and never cared much about dust, scratches, or grain while developing black-and-white film. He rarely cropped the images while printing.

© Boris Redko

Influenced by Boris Mikhailov’s work, Redko directed his camera at social issues, but his work is not that critical of Soviet realia. Rather, its humor and grotesque offer an ironic look at the absurdity of everyday life of the late Soviet years, its deteriorating condition, and the Kharkovites' spirit to overcome the disaster.