Girls dressed in Soviet WWII uniforms of traffic control officers as Russian President Vladiimir Putin lays a wreath in the Hall of Military Glory of the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad to mark the 75th anniversary of the victory in the battle in Volgograd, Russia on February 2, 2018. The battle between Nazi troops and the Soviet Army was a major pivotal moment in the Great Patriotic War and World War II. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/TASS via Getty Images)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth, second left, sits next to fashion editor Anna Wintour, third left, and Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC) as they view Richard Quinn's runway show before presenting him with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, as she visits London Fashion Week's BFC Show Space in central London, Tuesday, February 20, 2018. (Photo by Yui Mok/Pool photo via AP Photo)

Only after World War II did the secret spill: Ōkunoshima, located in the Inland Sea of Japan between Hiroshima and Shikoku, was the top-secret site for manufacturing chemical warfare. When the factories were closed down, a number of exotic wild rabbits were seen freely roaming the island. They were assumed to have been the test subjects for the chemical weapons, which the military failed to eradicate when the factory was demolished.

World War II veteran Jack W. Schlegel, 91 years-old, from Mount Tremper, New York, of the 508th Parachute Infantry Division of the 82nd Airborne who parachuted near Sainte-Mere-Eglise on June 6,1944, poses with American and French flags as he visits the American War cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the Normandy coast June 2, 2014. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

“Michael Mathias Prechtl (April 26, 1926, Amberg – March 19, 2003, Nuremberg) was a German artist, illustrator and cartoonist. He served as a soldier on the Eastern Front during World War II and spent 1945-49 as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “Der Gestiefelte Kater (Puss in Boots)”, 1997. Artwork by Michael Mathias Prechtl

“The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the “death strip”) that contained anti-vehicle trenches, “fakir beds” and other defenses. The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building a socialist state in East Germany. However, in practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period”. – Wikipedia

Photo: West Berlin policemen and East German Volkspolizei face each other across the border in Berlin, circa 1955. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The 1940 Games had been scheduled for Tokyo, and then Helsinki; the 1944 Games had been provisionally planned for London. This was the second occasion that London had hosted the Olympic Games, the city had previously been the venue in 1908”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The Olympic torch passes through Windsor on its way to Wembley, for the start of the Summer Olympics, 29th July 1948. (Photo by Ron Burton/Keystone/Getty Images)

Ialian artist Federico Mauro latest series takes a look at iconic footwear, and its symbolic representation of the people who wore them. With everything from Steve Jobs’ New Balance 991‘s to the Nike Air Mags sported by Marty McFly in Back to the Future II on show, the minimalist series shows how closely one’s identity can be linked to a single shoe.

See also: Famous Eyeglasses By Federico Mauro / Famous Guns By Federico Mauro