The exhibition hall of the “Polina” Almaty Jewish Charity Center is hosting a personal exhibition of the famous Kazakhstan photographer Mikhail Sorokoumov, titled “That’s how life goes...”

When opening the exhibition, the President of the Mitzvah Association of Jewish Communities and Organizations, Euro-Asian Jewish Congress Presidium Member Alexander Baron noted: “This is our first exhibition with such a charged topic. Many works are practically a shock to the visitors. And that is good, it makes people think.”

Mikhail Sorokoumov got involved in photography when he was only 14, in 1968. In 1970, the “Druzhnye Rebyata” newspaper published his first photo spread. Sorokoumov’s works have been published in the periodical media for over 40 years. The photographer worked with such newspapers as “Vechernyaya Alma-Ata,” “Karavan,” “Vremya,” “AIF-Kazakstan,” “Ogni Alatau.” The current exhibition is the result of many years of creative work, an important landmark in the photographer’s work.

The exhibited works are from the entire range of the photographer’s creative path. Some of them were made in the 1980s, some - in the 1990s, and there are also later works present. Social themes are present throughout the exposition. Most photographs focus on regular people, but there is an entire era behind those portraits.

“I wanted to illustrate history with the photos of simple people,” Mikhail Sorokoumov said. “To lay life out as it is.”