Nikita Teryoshin's 'Nothing Personal' Exposes the Luxurious Side of the Arms Industry
Russian photographer Nikita Teryoshin has been documenting the global defense industry's trade fairs since 2016 in his ongoing series 'Nothing Personal – The Back Office of War.' The project captures the stark contrast between the destruction caused by war and the festive, luxurious atmosphere of these exclusive events, where wine, fine food, and gleaming new weapons are showcased. Teryoshin attended twenty defense fairs across various continents between 2016 and 2025, observing the business side of war. A key feature of his work is the deliberate anonymization of the businessmen depicted: he obscures their faces using strategic angles, objects, or cropping. This technique references John Heartfield's 1930s anti-war photomontage 'Dangerous Dining Companions,' drawing a parallel between the anonymous arms dealers and the historical critique of war profiteering. The series aims to expose the global scale of the arms market and the casual normalization of violence within these trade environments.
Key facts
- Nikita Teryoshin is a Russian photographer.
- The series is titled 'Nothing Personal – The Back Office of War'.
- The project began in 2016 and is ongoing.
- Teryoshin attended twenty defense fairs between 2016 and 2025.
- The fairs took place across multiple continents.
- The photographs contrast war's destruction with the festive, luxurious atmosphere of the fairs.
- Teryoshin deliberately obscures the faces of the businessmen in his images.
- The anonymization technique references John Heartfield's 1930s photomontage 'Dangerous Dining Companions'.
- The article was produced in collaboration with Luigi Falanga and Gaia Forlin (aka @super8otto).
Entities
Artists
- Nikita Teryoshin
- John Heartfield