At the end of summer 2016, as has been customary since 1993, the International Defense Industry Exhibition (MSPO), the largest arms fair in Central Europe, took place on the outskirts of Kielce, Poland.
Six hundred nine companies from 30 countries, including Spain, showed their products.
Nearly 22,000 people gathered among tanks, machine guns, bazookas and the latest developments in the war industry while they snacked on some canapé, accompanied by a glass of wine or champagne.
Among the government delegations and vendors—the general public does not have access to this type of fair—was the photojournalist Nikita Teryoshin (St. Petersburg, 1986);
It was the first time that he attended an event of this nature.
Impacted by the spectacle, between 2016 and 2023 he visited 80 international defense exhibitions in different parts of the world, giving shape to
Nothing Personal.
The Back Office of War
;
a look as crazy and bizarre as it is real of the dark and prosperous business of war.
'A Belarusian officer and a satellite dish fixed to a multimedia truck.'
MILEX exhibition, Minsk, Belarus, 2017.Nikita Terysohin
'An Indian Army photo booth.
The soldier equipped with a Kalashnikov rifle wears a Russian uniform.'
DEFEXPO, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2022.Nikita Terysohin
'A trader locks up two Bulgarian KINTEX anti-tank grenades.'
IDEX Expo, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2019.Nikita Terysohin
'After the presentation of the Finnish Patria 6x6 armored vehicle'.
EUROSATORIUM, Paris, France, 2018.Nikita Terysohin
'Entering the back room of the Israeli company Elbit Systems' stand.
In the foreground, a missile dummy of the Lizard' air-to-ground bomb.
SITDEF, Lima, Peru, 2019.Nikita Terysohin
'Model of a Swedish naval gun Bofors 57 Mk3'.
MSPO Exhibition, Kielce, Poland, 2016.Nikita Terysohin
'On the deck of a ferry while jet fighters, helicopters and cargo planes fly at low altitude.'
IDEX Exhibition, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2019.Nikita Terysohin
'Peruvian delegation at the UkrOboronProm stand.
The Oplot-M main battle tank as a possible solution to replace the old Soviet T 55 MBT of the Peruvian Army.
SITDEF, Lima, Peru, 2019.Nikita Terysohin
'Reception of Airbus military helicopters'.
MSPO Exhibition, Kielce, Poland, 2016.Nikita Terysohin
'Waiting for a shuttle to the live demonstration location.'
Army Exhibition, Park Patriot, Alabino, Russia, 2019.Nikita Terysohin
“I saw things that I could never have created in my imagination or thought would be possible,” says the photographer during a video conference from his home in Berlin.
At a fair in Lucknow, India, the entrance to the men's service was a tank, while at the Indian army stand there was a photo montage of a headless soldier with an atomic explosion emanating from his neck, equipped with a Kalashnikov and wearing a Russian uniform. .
In Abu Dhabi, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the International Defense Conference and Exhibition (IDEX), the author witnessed an unusual scene: “In one of the rooms there was a cake more than two meters long, the decoration reproduced a strange militarized scene of land, sea and air seasoned with edible ammunition.
In the middle was an explosion surrounded by tanks and soldiers, fighters and warships.
It was truly crazy,” recalls the photographer.
“There came a time when the guests were offered tiny plastic forks to eat the cake that would end up looking like a real battlefield.
This industry is very cynical.
A war against Yemen was taking place 1,000 kilometers away and the Saudi coalition was bombing hospitals and schools.
It was a really impudent scene.
“It looked like the shooting of a Hollywood movie.”
Through color saturation, the use of
flash
and forced angles, Teryoshin's insightful and clean vision is able to frame scenes where the absurd goes hand in hand with tragedy.
The author dispenses with the human face.
“He wanted to show the system, not the individuals.
That as a whole it functioned as a metaphor for an industry that tries to go unnoticed.”
Hence the photographer shows the opposite side of the battlefield, the mud and the destruction;
an excessive theme park for adults where weapons shine among an immaculately groomed public and tanks, drones and thermal vision cameras are sold with the same superficiality as a vacuum cleaner at an appliance fair.
'An Indian Army photo booth.
The soldier equipped with a Kalashnikov rifle wears a Russian uniform.'
DEFEXPO, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2022.Nikita Terysohin
There is no allusion to death in this type of event.
Only the image of a mannequin, which simulates a soldier whose leg is destroyed, alludes to the lethality of the merchandise.
“It is used to teach soldiers and doctors what to do in case someone loses a leg,” Teryoshin explains.
Interspersed among the images are the slogans used by the companies:
70 years defending peace,
emphasizes the company that distributes the Kalashnikovs.
Lockheed Martin, the world's largest arms manufacturer, which annually earns five times the United Nations budget for peace missions, does not fall short:
Designing a better future
, its slogan asserts.
“This can only happen within a sector that is governed by different rules than the others,” warns the photographer.
“Within an industry that remains in a kind of bubble, where real
feedback
with society is not established.
However, I fear that even if the slogans were different, the import of weapons would not be affected.”
“Before the war in Ukraine began, the country exported weapons to Russia, and even at the beginning of the war some companies continued to do so,” highlights the photographer.
“If there is no regulation, there is no way that weapons will not be sold to dictators.
There is no morality behind this industry.
“Business is business, hence the title of the series
, Nothing Personal,”
he adds.
The project is loaded with a good dose of humor, which “was a way to deal with the cynicism that all of this contains.
If it weren't for humor, I wouldn't be able to believe in humanity anymore,” Teryoshin points out.
“We are very used to seeing images of war, but the question is where all that weapons come from.
This is a part that is rarely discussed in the media.”
As Linda Åkerström, director of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, highlights in a text included in the book: “The international arms trade remains less regulated than the banana trade.”
'Reception of Airbus military helicopters'.
MSPO Exhibition, Kielce, Poland, 2016.Nikita Terysohin
Although the book is very critical of the arms industry, the author is in favor of sending weapons to Ukraine.
“We are faced with a dictator, Putin.
As a Russian, I still have my passport and consider it very necessary to support Ukraine.
If it falls, other European countries will become the target of the Russian president,” the photographer predicts.
“When I started the project I didn't think like that, but things have come very far.
At this point it is necessary to protect democracy and we need weapons.
Which is not to say that I have stopped seeing the global arms trade system as a big problem.
An endless climb.”
'
Nothing Personal.
The Back Office of War
'.
Nikita Teryoshin.
Gost Books.
182 pages.
55 euros.
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