Nikita Teryoshin

Image credit: From the series Life Sentence, 2022 – ongoing © Nikita Teryoshin

The relationship between humans and animals has for centuries been shaped by projection and exploitation. In Life Sentence, on view from 21 January to 23 March at Fotografiska Berlin, photographer Nikita Teryoshin turns his gaze toward zoos — places whose origins are closely intertwined with Europe’s colonial past.

In Teryoshin’s images, the zoo appears as an artificial construct in which nature is merely simulated. The animals often seem isolated, estranged from any natural environment, confined within geometric, metallic, and concrete structures. Their bodies are dominated by these artificial spaces; their gazes appear fixed on something beyond them — something inaccessible. In that sense, the architecture itself becomes a metaphor for captivity and display.

Again and again, visitors enter the frame. Their presence exposes the asymmetrical relationship between those who look and those who are looked at. It is from this tension that the unsettling impact of the series emerges. Some images feel quiet, almost lifeless. Others disturb through an absurdity that is never humorous. Instead, they compel viewers to reflect on the human role itself.