In a recent interview, photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur, said, “I do not take photographs of animals. I take photographs for animals.” This is a powerful, courageous distinction. The first tells a story. The second advocates. And Jo-Anne McArthur has relentlessly and fearlessly advocated for animals since 1998. As a gifted photojournalist, Jo-Anne boldly tells the complicated and often painful stories of our relationship with non-humans. She has travelled to all seven continents documenting the use and abuse of animals around the globe. This work has been featured globally and by hundreds of media outlets and campaigns. Jo-Anne has received numerous awards including being named “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” three times (various categories); winning the Special Jury Prize in the 2018 Global Peace Awards; and most recently her photograph, “Hope in a Burned Plantation” (included in this submission) was awarded the 2021 Grand Prize Winner in the Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition. It is easy to understand why her work has garnered this attention. Her captivating photographs bring the viewer eye-level with her subjects who are the souls “hidden” in our midst. This includes animals consumed for food, performing as entertainment, and experimenting on for science. All of Jo-Anne’s photographic work is part of her lifetime project called “We Animals”—a project that she gives away for free (more on that below). Her work is nothing short of heroic and inspirational, and that is why I am honored to nominate her for the 2021 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award.
Jo-Anne’s photographs ask the viewer to bear witness to the suffering we have ignorantly or willfully ignored. And in doing so, we are compelled to feel with her subjects and take action. This empathy is created through carefully crafted compositions, expert control over natural light, and a perspective that places the viewer with her subjects. (Analyzing empathy in visual art is part of my scholarship as a photography professor. Most recently I wrote a paper on Principles of Empathy in Art and I used Jo-Anne’s work as exemplars in defining these three principles.) Because of these visual choices, we feel along with souls in Jo-Anne’s images, and without a hint of misanthropy. In fact, Jo-Anne’s photographs show love and wonder for all life, similar to Anja Niedringhaus. Also like Anja Niedringhaus, Jo-Anne’s work is infused with kindness and empathy as she approaches her subjects with a “kind heart” and “fierce spirit”.
I have selected 12 images that use these principles of empathy and demonstrate the power and strength in Jo-Anne’s work. These examples highlight her commitment to honestly and powerfully tell her subject’s story with an artist’s sensitivity.
Last, but not least, it is important to note that Jo-Anne photographs in the most deplorable and stressful conditions. She photographs undercover in factory farms, overheated animal transport trucks, slaughter houses, and meat markets; other times she situates herself in the middle of wildfires or floods in order to tell the stories of the individuals left behind, or who otherwise have been erased. Like other war photographers, Jo-Anne exhibits courage in putting herself in harm’s way to tell an important story. And most remarkably, all of this work is made available for the public to download and use for free. I admire the audacity in declining image royalties as part of an attempt to curb the commodification of animals, and ensure she does not personally profit from these animals’ suffering. This is a unique stance to take as a photojournalist, and another one of the courageous reasons I am nominating her for this award.
