Early February 2022. Two weeks before the full-scale invasion, I remember it as a time of complete information oversaturation—a chaos of voices from various politicians, experts, diplomats, influencers, friends, random passersby… and my own voice. Everyone was talking about whether there would be a major war, an escalation, or if it was just a bluff—because it seemed utterly impossible. Amid the growing, deafening anxiety, the only thing I could create were small black figures. They emerged mechanically, without any attempt to form meaningful structures, playful interpretations, or conscious reflection. They were only movement and the growing cacophony all around.

The rumble of misanthropy, the grinding teeth of tanks. The one devouring the sun, the one tearing words to shreds. The unthinkable.

I couldn’t comprehend it, couldn’t find the words. So I simply drew what I felt. The cycle ended on February 24, 2022. A year later, these sketches became the foundation for the project “Just Before.”

#NEIVANMADE