As its title suggests, the exhibition showcases works from different series grouped in sets of three. Ten series by Mikhailov are represented, the earliest being “Yesterday’s Sandwich” from the late ’60s to the early ’70s, which features at its center two sun-drenched, rather dandy tennis players overlaid with a photograph of a Communist poster. This is the only set of images here created before the collapse of the regime, and the figures appear confident, boldly posing for the camera. In his later series, Mikhailov addresses some of the difficulties of life in post-Soviet Ukraine. Several triptychs focus on the poor and homeless. While these images feel closer to documentary in style, Mikhailov continues to incorporate conceptual ideas into his work, carefully staging his subjects and using religious and art-historical references. One man, in a triptych from the series “Case History” (1997-8), is shown held as if in a Pietà. Mikhailov himself appears in a number of more humorous works, which provide lightrelief to the physical and mental suffering on display elsewhere. In the series “I Am Not I” from 1992, the artist appears naked, posing with various objects — including a large dildo. His exaggerated facial expressions portray a clown-like range of emotions, from power to introspection.

It is Mikhailov’s work with the homeless that proves most absorbing, however. As with the work of Roger Ballen, and even the early photography of Richard Billingham, Mikhailov’s photographs raise difficult questions about the relationship between photographer and subject. In their portrayal of the vulnerable, naked and often drunken, these images are troubling and unsettling, yet remain utterly compelling.