Episode 25: Jo-Anne McArthur on the Fight for Animals Through Photojournalism

In this episode of the Plant-Based Canada podcast we interview Canadian photojournalist, animal rights activist, and author Jo-Anne McArthur.

She is known for the We Animals project, a photography project documenting human relationships with animals. Through the We Animals Archive, she provides photographs and other media for those working to help animals.

Her first book, We Animals, was published in 2013; her second, Captive, was published in 2017; and a third, Hidden, which featured a foreword by Joaquin Phoenix, was published in 2020. 

McArthur has won several awards for her work, including the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice award for a photo of a lowland gorilla rescued from poachers… And more recently 3 of her photos made the top 10 in the Earth Project’s COP26 photography competition. 

She has been working as a photojournalist for decades… and sometimes navigates extremely dangerous environments – from bushfires in Australia to factory farm operations in Turkey and Italy – to help shine a light on the plight of a wide-range of animals, as well as the downstream effects our treatment of animals has on out environment.


 In this episode we discuss:

• Jo-Anne’s interest in photojournalism and her path to animal rights activism. 
• Her work documenting our relationship with animals and how we exploit them.
• Her photography awards, including her winning images in the Earth Project’s COP26 photography competition.
• Her work as the founder of the “Unbound Project” and her photography project We Animals.
• The oftentimes dangerous situations she finds herself in her line of work.
• Her focus on protecting mental health and staying hopeful while documenting difficult subjects.
• How to get involved in animal rights advocacy work.

Studies/Articles:

tEP COP26 Competition Update
COP26 Earth Project photography competition
Nature under threat: a Cop26 photographic competition – in pictures
Canadian photojournalist wins COP26 photography competition

 Socials/Links:

Jo-Anne’s Website
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
We Animals Media
Unbound Project

This Podcast was hosted and edited by Clinton Stamatovich