After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war on 24 February 2022, Pavlo Fyshar moved from one city to another several times. This experience prompted the artist to reflect on how fleeting the life of an ordinary person could be during a war. “It somewhat resembled the life of an insect, which no one notices,” Fyshar explains. During this period – from the end of 2022 to 2025 – Fyshar began to depict real insects in his work, framing them as an integral part of human life. In some images, they are accessories. In others, they are a part of natural processes, or positioned as models of beauty. There are no humans depicted here, but, at its heart, the series is all about people. “I’ve tried to show our ‘big world’ through the small world of insects, using personification. You can notice manifestations of different human qualities, states, abilities, aspirations”