26 Facts About Jo-Anne McArthur

Jo-Anne McArthur was born on December 23,1976 and is a Canadian photojournalist, humane educator, animal rights activist and author.

Jo-Anne McArthur is known for her We Animals project, a photography project documenting human relationships with animals.

Jo-Anne McArthur was the primary subject of the 2013 documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine, directed by Liz Marshall, and with Keri Cronin, she is the founder of the Unbound Project, which aims to celebrate and recognize female animal activists.

Jo-Anne McArthur has been awarded a range of commendations for her photography and activism, including several commendations in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards and joint first place in the COP26 photography competition.

Jo-Anne McArthur was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, and studied Geography and English at the University of Ottawa.

Jo-Anne McArthur decided to pursue photography after taking an elective course on black-and-white photography at university.

Jo-Anne McArthur originally entered photography motivated by artistry, but her motives subsequently changed, and she instead came to see her camera as her "tool for creating change".

Jo-Anne McArthur's work has been published in a variety of media, including the newspaper The Guardian, the magazines National Geographic and Vice, and the news website National Observer.

Jo-Anne McArthur appeared in the top 50 of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Champions of Change contest, and on More fourth annual "Fierce" list.

Jo-Anne McArthur has been awarded the Institute for Critical Animal Studies's 2014 Media Award, and the Toronto Vegetarian Association's 2013 Lisa Grill Compassion for Animals Award.

In 2018, Jo-Anne McArthur was awarded the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice award for a photograph of Pikin, a lowland gorilla rescued from poachers by Ape Action Africa, in the arms of Appolinaire Ndohoudou, a carer, while Pikin was being transported between two sanctuaries in Cameroon.

Jo-Anne McArthur firmly believes that animals are individuals and have feelings.

Jo-Anne McArthur jointly won the COP26 photography competition for a photograph of a sow and piglet on an industrial pork farm in Italy.

Jo-Anne McArthur was a judge for the 2021 World Press Photo contest in the "Nature" category.

Jo-Anne McArthur conceived of the We Animals project in around 1998 after an encounter with a monkey chained to a windowsill in Ecuador.

Jo-Anne McArthur photographed the monkey as she was appalled at the treatment, and "knew that the way [she] saw our treatment of animals was important, and [she] wanted to share that point of view".

In December 2013, We Animals, a photobook by Jo-Anne McArthur containing both text and over 100 of her photographs, was published by Lantern Books.

In 2014, a grant was awarded to Jo-Anne McArthur to develop the We Animals Humane Education project by The Pollination Project and the Thinking Vegan.

Jo-Anne McArthur offers a variety of presentations in school, university and other environments.

In 2017, Jo-Anne McArthur launched the We Animals Archive, an archive of thousands of photographs and videos of animals in human-dominated environments.

Jo-Anne McArthur is the founder and director, while other contributors include the journalist Corinne Benedict, the writer Kate Fowler, the photojournalist and filmmaker Aaron Gekoski, the filmmaker Alex Lockwood, the writer Anna Mackiewicz, the journalist Jessica Scott-Reid, the photographer and filmmaker Chris Showbridge, and the writer Sayara Thurston.

Jo-Anne McArthur takes pictures for WAM, and many of its images were originally captured by her, but WAM has a wide range of contributors.

Jo-Anne McArthur published a second book through Lantern, entitled Captive, in 2017.

Jo-Anne McArthur's Captive is a powerful, visual survey of zoo animals and their physical conditions of captivity.

Jo-Anne McArthur was inspired by James Nachtwey's photobook Inferno, which featured photographs of "what we do to each other", and "moved [her] to the core".

Jo-Anne McArthur was the "main human subject" of the 2013 documentary film The Ghosts in Our Machine, directed by Liz Marshall.