Jo-Anne McArthur | Sunday
Animals in the Anthropocene
Jo-Anne McArthur is an award-winning photographer, author and in-demand speaker. As an animal photojournalist, she has spent nearly twenty years highlighting the hidden animals (which we don’t see, but have a close relationship with) in our world.
Jo-Anne created the We Animals project to document human interactions with animals and show how ordinary situations can be seen from a different perspective. This proved to be very effective because people simply did not recognize common incidences for animal abuse.
The seed of the We Animals project was born when she was backpacking through Ecuador. There was a monkey chained to some window bars. The monkey could neither get in nor out, and was trained to pick-pocket the people going by. People took pictures of the monkey thinking it was cute or funny, but Jo-Anne stopped taking pictures because she thought it was terribly cruel. She wanted to do something with the image, help the monkey, or at least show the world that this sort of treatment of animals was unacceptable. She saw, then, quite clearly, that she saw animals differently than others did. She thought her point of view was important, that showing animals through her lens, so to speak, could help people see animals, and think critically about how we treat them. Jo-Anne thinks that education is one of the best ways to start a discussion, teaching people to think critically about animals and showing that they are not just objects we can use.
During this lecture you will travel with Jo-Anne to the cataclysmic climate fires in Australia, to monkey reserves in Africa and an Asian bear rescue in Vietnam. Through her lens, you also get a glimpse into the global industries that mass produce animals for consumption. You will come across various animals in the entertainment that have become victims of our custom.
And finally you also follow rescues of many animals.
Jo-Anne highlights the complexity and intelligence of the animals she meets. She shares stories of hope, redemption and a step forward. You will undoubtedly become very impressed and inspired!