ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Tucked away inside the Strong National Museum of Play is an exhibit unlike anything else there. It features toys and drawings from children in the middle of war zones. This one focuses on Ukraine. 

"It sneaks around your defenses," said Brian McCarty. "Sometimes the simplest drawings can be the most revealing." 

Photographer Brian McCarty spent five weeks in Ukraine. He worked with an art therapist asking children to draw scenes from their life. 

"My goal is to recreate what children share with as much honesty and authenticity as I can," said McCarty. 

The exhibit's name, War Toys, comes from McCarty’s work. He uses toys that the children would have at home and recreates the drawings in the locations they feature.

“Identifying ones I think could be told and then it’s coming up with a shopping list," explains McCarty. "Toy shopping in Ukraine was looking at every mall, every flea market, every bazaar."

As the Army men and rockets draw kids in, McCarty says the meaning behind the exhibit sneaks around your defenses. He hopes it encourages conversations between kids and their parents. 

“You’re looking at toys and many of us had these toys," he said. "In the same way, it’s easier to understand and empathize and realize that these are humans."

McCarty plans to travel to more war zones and continue the work of way toys. 

"No matter what challenges I face in the field, it’s a shade of what these kids experienced. I get to leave; I get to go home," said McCarty. 

Strong is the first museum to host War Toys: Ukraine, which will tour museums across the country for five years.