Jo-Anne McArthur

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Jo-Anne McArthur

8 Published BooksJo-Anne McArthur

Based in Toronto, Canada, Jo-Anne McArthur is a photojournalist who brings a compassionate eye and a natural ability to her work. Though Jo-Anne shoots portrait, editorial, food and event photography in Toronto and the surrounding area, she also spends 4 - 6 months of each year abroad working on her documentary project We Animals. She is curious, open, and engaged, and approaches each project and assignment with enthusiasm and care.

Jo-Anne’s We Animals project, which began over a decade ago, highlights the ways in which human and animal cultures are intertwined. The central premise is that humans are just as much animal as the sentient beings used for food, clothing, research, experimentation, entertainment, work, slavery and companionship. Her project lays bare the complicated emotions and exploitations inherent in many human-animal relationships through photographs that defy the stereotypical in-your-face animal advocacy. She has shot for We Animals in over 30 countries and maintains a rigorous schedule of research and travel to keep it going. Her first book, We Animals, is published by Lantern Books, and she is also the subject of the Canadian documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine.

To date, Jo-Anne and the We Animals project have received several grants and garnered accolades such as the Canadian Empathy Award (in the arts category) and nominated by CBC as one of Canada's Top 50 Champions of Change.

Some of Jo-Anne’s clients include ELLE Canada, Der Spiegel, National Geographic Traveler, Canadian Geographic Magazine, Canadian Living Magazine and Sotokoto Magazine, and she guest lectures regularly in North America. Over 100 not-for-profit organizations have used We Animals images to help further their cause to end animal suffering.