I’m not really a wildlife photographer; I’m interested in photographing our relationship with animals, which is awesome and fraught and difficult and painful and cruel.
Ever since its invention in the 19th century, photography has been used to document life. At the same time, it focuses on inviting audiences to a rather subjective world while trying to be taken seriously as an art form. Photography has always been considered a male-dominated profession, but luckily, things are changing. Scholars, writers, bloggers, photography students, and enthusiasts have been giving credit to the female pioneers of the field. Most were always standing and/or hiding in the shadows, oblivious to how much they could claim and accomplish. Arguably, the techniques, concepts, and themes female photographers use differ from those of male photographers. At a time when most women were convinced that their place was in the kitchen and certainly not in the dark room, some were struggling to surpass their male counterparts and work towards gaining respect and recognition for their work.
Jo-Anne McArthur (Canadian photographer, 1976-) was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, and studied Geography and English at the University of Ottawa. She decided to pursue photography after taking an elective course on black and white photography at university. She 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". Her earlier work photographing animals was in the genre of street photography, but she now increasingly photographs captive animals, sometimes while undercover.
The now award-winning photographer, author, photo editor, mentor, and sought-after speaker has visited over sixty countries to document humans' complex relationship with animals. Through her extensive body of work, We Animals, she has documented our complex relationship with animals worldwide. In 2019, she founded a non-profit photo agency that advocates for animals through photojournalism.
Jo-Anne has been a proud jury member for World Press Photo, Big Picture, Mont Photo, and others. McArthur's photography and writing have been published in places like VII Foundation, National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Vox, Lens Culture, Canadian Geographic, and many more. In addition, her images have been used by hundreds of organizations, publishers, and academics. Recent awards include The Festival of Ethical Photography 2025 & 2019; PhotoVogue 2024; Humans & Nature 2024; International Photography Awards 2022; Global Peace Award 2018, and many more.
In 2021, her book HIDDEN was awarded Photography Book of the Year by Pictures of the Year International (PoYI), and IPPY's Outstanding Book of the Year Most Likely to Save the Planet. The photographer often makes speaches at schools, universities, and conferences on the subjects of photojournalism, the human-animal relationship, social change, and empathy. Recent keynote speaking engagements have included the European Parliament, WildPhotos, Harvard Law School, the GDT Nature Photography Festival, the AVA conferences, and many virtual workshops and presentations. In 2022, McArthur was a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the University of Denver's Department of Law, and in 2018, a visiting scholar at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.
McArthur was the subject of the critically acclaimed 2013 documentary, which followed her as she documented the plight of abused and exploited animals and advocated for their rights as sentient beings.
When I’m photographing animals in bad situations, I’m there to work, with compassion and determination. I am there to bear witness, to document, to tell the story of these animals.
We will continue talking about female names that left their mark on photography and about contemporary female photographers who are still emerging. There are a lot of female photographers out there deserving of praise, and we can only hope to cover as many of them as we can. Please follow this space to find out more.
