We Animals is an ambitious project which documents, through photography, animals in the human environment. Humans are as much animal as the sentient beings we use for food, clothing, research, experimentation, work, entertainment, slavery and companionship. With this as its premise, We Animals aims to break down the barriers that humans have built which allow us to treat nonhuman animals as objects and not as beings with moral significance. The objective is to photograph our interactions with animals in such a way that the viewer finds new significance in these ordinary, often unnoticed situations of use, abuse and sharing of spaces.
Since the conception of the project, stories and photographs for We Animals have been shot in over 40 countries and the photos have contributed to almost 100 worldwide campaigns to end the suffering of animals.
The We Animals project was created by award-winning photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur who has been documenting the plight of animals on all seven continents for over ten years. Her documentary project, We Animals, is internationally celebrated and over 80 animal organizations, among them Igualdad Animal, Sea Shepherd, and the Jane Goodall Institute, have benefited from her photography. Many organizations have also worked with her closely on campaigns and investigations. Recent awards and accolades include the 2011 Canadian Empathy Award (art category); one of CBC's Top 50 Champions of Change; Farm Sanctuary's 2010 "Friend of Farm Animals" award; HuffPost WOMEN's "Top 10 Women trying to change the world"; one of 20 activists featured in the book The Next Eco Warrior; and the "Shining World Compassion Award" by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Jo-Anne is being featured in the upcoming film by Canadian film maker Liz Marshall The Ghosts In Our Machine. She hails from Toronto, Canada.