Solo exhibition “ Impersonal”, Nyky aika Photo Center, Tampere, Finland
Spartak Khachanov: The Impersonal
At Photographic Centre Nykyaika, Tampere, 31 May – 30 June 2025
The Impersonal is a long-term art project by photographic and media artist Spartak Khachanov. The work explores themes of migration and life in a refugee reception centre. The project is based on the artist’s own experiences as an asylum seeker living for two years in a refugee centre located in Vantaa, Finland, after arriving in the country as a political refugee in 2019.
War and forced migration have shaped Spartak Khachanov’s life from an early age. He was born in Azerbaijan, from where his family fled to Armenia and later to Ukraine. Over the course of his life, Khachanov has been forced to leave his home four times. His most recent flight began in 2019, when his art provoked strong reactions in far-right nationalists, he received death threats and became a target of the radical right-wing group C14.
Khachanov’s asylum process was initiated through the Artists at Risk network, which facilitated his move to Helsinki and a residency at HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme). In 2021, he applied for political asylum in Finland and spent two years at a refugee centre in Vantaa while awaiting refugee status. During this time, Khachanov began systematically documenting his surroundings and it’s impact on the people living there.
In The Impersonal, Khachanov explores the refugee centre as a physical and psychological space. He documented his experience through photography, video, and sound recordings – while also analysing the space through the lens of an advertising designer. The exhibition includes a photographic installation consisting of 1,400 disposable paper plates, each with a photo taken on an iPhone mounted in the centre. The images depict fellow residents, interior spaces, outdoor environments, and everyday objects from the refugee centre.
The project’s title refers to the experience of invisibility and the erosion of identity: the refugee centre becomes a space where time stands still, and residents are pushed to the margins of society – trapped in a space between past and future. The work aims to shed light on the lived reality of those seeking refuge in Finland and raise questions about who refugees are, where they come from, and what kinds of situations they are fleeing.
“A refugee centre is like a black hole in the landscape. Time loses its meaning, and every day is the same. You were taken from your home country like garbage, and the new society is in no hurry to accept you – or even notice you. Refugees are left stuck between the past and the future. They cannot return, but their future is vague.”
Spartak Khachanov – Finnish artist whose work addresses political and societal issues such as war, instability, nationalism, and migration. He works with sculpture, installation, painting, photography, video, animation, and sound. His art has been shown in numerous exhibitions and festivals in Helsinki, Vantaa, Berlin, Madrid, New York, and Sofia, among others. His work has been featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, Helsingin Sanomat, and Hyperallergic.
