Russian Police academy female cadets march during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Victory Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, is Russia's most important secular holiday celebrated on May 9. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/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.

Maria Sharapova of Russia arrives at the 2012 Australian open Players Party at Crown Towers on January 15, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Prezioso/Getty Images)

The bride in her room, prepared for a traditional Chechen wedding ceremony in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia on November 24, 2016. (Photo by Valery Sharifulin/TASS)

A child covered in mud on Lake Chokrak near the village of Kurortnoye, Leninsky District of Crimea in Russia on July 4, 2019. (Photo by Sergei Malgavko/TASS)

A tufted puffin is seen in Kamchatka Territory, Russia on July 17, 2018. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)

Miners pulling up lazy tourists to the rim of Kawah Ijen (Ijen Volcano), East Java, Indonesia on September 21, 2017. They will earn as much as they would bring down a load of sulfur. Nomadic Explorer, Cultural Lifestyle Photographer Claudio Sieber captured striking images of miners working at Ijen volcanic range in East Java, Indonesia. The sulphur miners risk their lives daily as they climb the active volcano carrying heavy loads, which they sell to sugar refineries. (Photo by Claudio Sieber/Barcroft Images)

Tattoo artists work on clients during the second International Tattoo Festival in Sochi, Russia, April 23, 2016. (Photo by Kazbek Basayev/Reuters)