Born in 1962, Bishkek. Lives in Bishkek.

Alimjan Jorobaev belongs to a generation of artists from post-Soviet countries that have experienced continuous change since the early 1990s, starting with the collapse of the USSR and the establishment of newly independent states. His photographs often focus on the remnants of the Soviet era, as seen in his work Mirages of Communism (1995-2005).
The series of black and white photographs, Men Praying on the Central Square in Bishkek (1982-2005), looks at the interconnection between manifestations of military and state power and the increased presence of religion in public space. The lessons of history are central to an understanding of the images -?one shows workers around a towering sculpture of Lenin, involved in its removal rather than its installation, although from the photograph it is not clear what is happening. Moved from the central square to a park to the rear of the building that still hosts the Museum of the Revolution, and standing next to the sculptures of Marx and Engels in front of American University, Lenin's sculpture now exists as a tourist attraction. Jorobaev's photographs, showing people praying with their backs turned to the communist leader, provide a sobering chronicle of the ways in which ideas of Soviet collectivism have been replaced by identity politics and an obsession with nationhood.