
A global media agency dedicated to making visible the lives of animals trapped in the human world has launched. Through compelling photography, journalism, andfilmmaking,We Animals Mediailluminates the lives of animals used for food, fashion, entertainment, work, religion, and experimentation,and seeks to give their lives and stories a place in the public conscience.
At its heart is theWe Animals Media Archive– a treasure trove of 12,000 photos and films that is made available to media, academics and animal campaigners.
Alongside this resource, We Animals Media can also offerjournalistic collaborationsandexperts in various human-animal interaction issues,as well asexciting new talent in film, photography and storytelling.
We Animals Media has been created by award-winning photographer Jo-Anne McArthur. She has spent more than 15 years travelling the world with her camera.
McArthur's journey – undertaken for her powerfulWe Animalsphotographic project, and from which the media agency developed – has been at times harrowing. She has documented: thebloody rattlesnake roundupin Sweetwater, Texas; the fear and misery offoxes and racoons inside European fur farms; wild animalscaught in snares in Uganda's forests, and theDeepwater Horizon spill. She has photographed inside factory farms, slaughterhouses and animal testing facilities, and documented the lives of animals across Africa, North America, Asia and beyond. One of We Animals multimedia projects isUnbound– which celebrates women at the forefront of animal advocacy worldwide.
In 2017, McArthur wonWildlife Photographer of the Year(People's Choice) and a film was made about her work (The Ghosts in our Machine). Yet she recognised there was only so much one woman with a camera could do.This evolution of We Animals is the next phase of a mission to tell animals' stories through an empathic lens and build momentum for change.
"With the launch of We Animals Media comes a new collaboration,” says McArthur. “Together with talented and celebrated journalists, filmmakers and photographers, we will continue to tell animals' stories and build stronger bridges between social movements.”
We Animals Media has already attracted talent from around the world. Among its contributors are:
- Jonathan Balcombe, ethologist and author (USA)
- Corinne Benedict, international journalist, 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist (USA)
- Miguel Endara, artist and filmmaker (USA)
- Aaron Gekoski – award-winning environmental photojournalist and filmmaker (global)
- Alexander Lockwood, director of BAFTA-winning film73 Cows(UK)
- Jessica Scott-Reid, widely published journalist (Canada)
- Christopher Shoebridge, ethical photographer and filmmaker (UK)
We Animals Media is keen to hear from other contributors.
You can learn more at WeAnimalsMedia.org. Please note this website contains graphic images.