Sergey Bratkov is known for his unsparing, realistic portraits depicting post-Soviet life. His photographs of children, laborers, and prostitutes hint at collective trauma. His works have been described as critiquing Soviet ideology and capitalist mass media. Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Bratkov became associated with the radical Kharkiv School of Photography group in the late 1980s. With artists Boris Mikhailov, Vita Mikhailov, and Sergey Solonsky, he formed the Fast Reaction Group in the early 1990s, producing projects such as the 1994 performative photography series “If I were a German...” He founded the Up/Down gallery with Mikhailov and others in 1993. Bratkov moved to Moscow in 2000. He has shown in the Bienal de São Paulo (2002), Manifesta 5 (2004), and the Venice Biennale (2003, 2007, 2011). Bratkov’s solo exhibitions include the SMAK Museum of Contemporary Art (2005), the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (2007), Winterthur Photo Museum (2008), Pinchuk Art Centre (2010 and 2013), and the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (2017).

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Wiepersdorf, video, 9:53, 2023