The relationship between humans and animals has for centuries been shaped by protection and exploitation. In Life Sentence, Berlin-based photographer Nikita Teryoshin turns his gaze toward zoos in Germany, Switzerland and Portugal — places whose origins are closely intertwined with Europe’s colonial past.
Once, animals were forcibly taken from distant regions; zoos functioned as windows into foreign worlds, but also as symbols of ownership and dominance. Today, they are often justified in the name of conservation. Yet what does protection truly mean when animals’ freedom is profoundly restricted and an artificial sense of proximity to humans is staged in its place.
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.
Copyright photo: © Nikita Teryoshin
Lodi, Ex Chiesa dell’Angelo, Via Tito Fanfulla 22