Noelker zoo photos

The Warsaw zoo was one of the first to have a an environment that imitated natural habitats for it's animals. Charles Noelker's photographs challenge the way we see animals as exotic, by imagining them in different backdrops, by painting murals mimicking their natural environment, or a historic cultural association, such as the hippo in an Egyptian setting as above. The idea of people having to hide in what was once one of these enclosures, as was the case in The Zookeeper's Wife, questions what we think about humans and animals, and also what happens to animals in captivity during a war.