Backroom Profiteers

Canapés, wine glasses – and vast arrays of weapons, polished to a sheen: the clean-cut expo spaces depicted in Nikita Teryoshin’s images could hardly be further removed from the gruesome realities of the battle field. In Nothing Personal – The Back Office of War, the photographer reveals a glimpse behind the scenes of the global arms trade – a world that is normally kept out of public view. 

By obtaining official accreditation, Teryoshin managed to gain access to multiple defence and weapons expos around the world – attended by an exclusive circle of businessmen, politicians, military representatives, and (mostly industry-internal) journalists. In some ways, the events seem almost like oversized playgrounds for grown men, whereas the devastating impact of the displayed ‘products’ is overtly ignored. “I make a point of not showing any faces,” the photographer explains. “My intention is not to focus on individual people, but to question the system as a whole.” 

Nikita Teryoshin (b. 1986 in Leningrad) is a multi-award-winning photographer based in Berlin. In 2021, he was among the finalists of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. His work has been widely exhibited, and is frequently published in German and international magazines. 

Nothing Personal – The Back Office of War opens at Hamburg’s Freelens Gallery on 25 January (the opening reception starts at 7 p.m.), and will be on view until 5 April 2024. The exhibition is accompanied by the long-awaited photo book of the same title.