Jo-Anne McArthur photographs invisible animals. The ones you don’t see roaming in the wild, or gambolling in your backyard, but the ones on our plates or lining our clothing. “We fail to see them in our lives, yet they are all around us,” McArthur says. She founded We Animals Media in 2003 to expose the atrocities committed in factory and fur farms and at animal testing sites. “It is my duty for the animals and for the public to document what is going on there,” she says.
McArthur’s efforts are not without risk, and often at the expense of her mental health and personal safety. “A lot of the investigative work is done illicitly at night, so that I can swiftly and quietly gain access,” she says. “I don’t like it but I have to do it, it’s part of my mission.” The Canadian photojournalist is committed to capturing the perspectives of these animals and detailing their plight.
“The hardest part of my work is leaving animals behind,” McArthur says. “It breaks my heart.” But with her photography, she’s able to take their stories and share them with the world. The thousands of photos she’s taken are free and accessible on the We Animals Archive, to be used by anyone interested in conservation. “Animals deserve to be seen,” McArthur says. “They’re complex, beautiful, interesting, worthy animals and we need to protect them just as we want to be protected.”
Footage by We Animals Media was used in the creation of this film.