Lev Melikhov was born in Djalalabad, Kirgizia, in 1951 but spent his childhood in the old Russian town of Volokolamsk,
near Moscow. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Architecture in 1973 and carried out numerous construction
projects. Later, having studied journalism, he changed his profession, quickly becoming a well-known photographer
and the frequent winner of prestigious photographic contests.
In the 1970s he studied the artistic methods developed by Aleksandr Rodchenko, Dziga Vertov, and El Lissitzky.
Melikhov was never seen without his camera and kept a photographic diary of his life. In his work one senses his
deep concern for everything around him, the Moscow streets and all who inhabit them, the suburban landscape and
surrounding objects. He also photographed the artistic community including studios, exhibitions, and artists themselves.
He created an encyclopedia of people connected to the world of Russian alternative art.
Melikhov is devoted to photographic documentation and keeps an archive of slides that trace the history of nonofficial
art. He has contributed to albums devoted to the Russian art of the nineteenth century and of the Russian avant-garde
of the 1920s. Melikhov lives and works in Moscow.
