Inspired by Dutch Baroque painters (Melchior de Hondecoeter, Frans Snyders, Jan Asselijn), whose paintings often focus on animals as protagonists, this series pays homage to the animal world. It's about dignity and elegance - qualities we attribute far too rarely to our fellow inhabitants. By directing the gaze to overlooked details, I try to draw the attention to what is essential - the beauty of nature that surrounds us. STRANGE ANIMALS also tells the story of the animal as a subject of mystification and worship, as a material and resource, ultimately as a projection surface for ourselves.
Born in Tyrol, ChM began taking photographs at the age of 16. He studied musicology in Innsbruck and Vienna. After completing the sound engineering course at the University of Music and Performing Arts, he worked as a lyricist and songwriter before becoming a photo assistant. From the late 1990s he traveled the world as a documentary cameraman, began directing and wrote concepts and screenplays for documentaries and feature films. Since 2019, he has been fully dedicated to photography again. Christoph Mayr lives and works in the south of Vienna.
