Having originally studied Economics and Social and Political Science at the University of York and the University of Cambridge, Ishchuk later attained an MA in Fine Art with Distinction from the Chelsea College of Art and Design. He has been named among The Magenta Foundation's top 100 UK photo-based artists and was the first non-documentary practitioner to win in the British Journal of Photography's Awards.
Ishchuk's work has been featured in The London Open at the Whitechapel Gallery, Plat(t)form at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Photo50, and Workshop 2011 at the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art. He has had several solo presentations in London and New York as well as shown in group exhibitions at venues like Jerwood Space and K11 Foundation. He has been awarded residencies at MASS MoCA and Art Omi, and recorded for Tate Audio Arts, a sound archive dedicated to art. In 2020, his work will appear in The Stubborn Influence of Painting at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado as well as in a two-artist show with Marshall Contemporary in Los Angeles.
Nikolai Ishchuk lives and works in London.