An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man holds a chicken before he performs the Kaparot ritual, where white chickens are slaughtered as a symbolic gesture of atonement, ahead of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement in Bnei Brak, Israel in Bnei Brak October 9, 2016. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

A worker displays paper pandas created by French artist Paulo Grangeon in front of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, March 4, 2016. The exhibit is part of the World Wide Fund's project where the 1600 paper pandas symbolize the last pandas still present in nature.(Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

An artist applies henna on the hand or a woman during the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, November 4, 2021. Millions of people across Asia are celebrating the Hindu festival of Diwali, which symbolizes new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

Believers burn dried oak branches, which symbolizes the Yule log, on Orthodox Christmas Eve in front of the St. Sava temple in Belgrade, Serbia, January 6, 2016. Serbian Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Ukrainians wearing traditional costumes sing Kolyadky or Ukrainian Christmas Carols, as a part of Orthodox Christmas in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, January 7 2016. Orthodox Christians mark their traditional Christmas Day Jan. 7, with many ancient symbolic events. (Photo by Sergei Chuzavkov/AP Photo)

The symbol for “One Orlando” is spelled out at a makeshift memorial at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, Fla., Saturday, June 18, 2016. Nearby, visitors lit candles and prayed at a larger memorial, at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, to mourn the victims of the Pulse massacre. (Photo by Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP Photo)

The head of a decapitated rooster is pictured after a rooster run, during celebrations in honour of San Juan Bautista in San Juan de Oriente town, Nicaragua, June 26, 2015. The rooster runs, where horse-riders try to pull the head off live roosters, symbolize the beheading of John the Baptist. (Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)