Animal Photojournalism, an Interview with Jo-Anne McArthur

Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur/WeAnimals

Pablo P. Castelló Junior Fellow of the Animals and Biodiversity programme, Global Research Network (GRN). Jo-Anne McArthur, creator and co-editor of HIDDEN, is an award-winning photojournalist who has been documenting the lives of animals for two decades. She has travelled to over 60 countries to photograph people’s complex and disturbing treatment of animals for her non-profit photo agency, We Animals Media. In addition to being a juror with World Press Photo and MontPhoto, Jo-Anne has received accolades from competitions such as Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Nature Photographer of the Year, BigPicture, Pictures of the Year International (POYI) and the Global Peace Photo Award. Jo-Anne’s work has been published by hundreds of media outlets, and she speaks internationally on the topics of animal photojournalism, the human-animal relationship, social change, and empathy. Jo-Anne makes her work freely available to anyone advocating for animals via the We Animals Media stock site. HIDDEN is Jo-Anne’s third book, following We Animals (2014) and Captive (2017). Keith Wilson is the co-founder (with Britta Jaschinski) of Photographers Against Wildlife Crime, an international group of award-winning photographers who have joined forces to use their powerful and iconic images to help bring an end to the illegal wildlife trade. Their efforts culminated in the publication of Photographers Against Wildlife Crime (2018). Keith also edits fine art nature photography books, working with some of Europe’s leading landscape and wildlife photographers. Titles include Zero Footprint (Leeming+Paterson), Silver (Jonathan Chritchley), and As Long As There Are Animals (David Lloyd). He is also the editor of the bestselling Remembering Elephants and its successor Remembering Rhinos, both published for the Born Free Foundation. This interview was conducted through correspondence in the Autumn of 2021. PPC: Can you tell us about yourselves? Where were you raised and how did you end up in the field of animal photojournalism? JMc: I’m from Ottawa, Canada. I attended Ottawa University where I did an undergrad in English literature and Geography. During that time I… To read the full interview, download the PDF.