n We Animals by Jo-Anne McArthur, Lantern Books, 206 pages, $44.66 Jo-Anne McArthur's photographs are beautifully composed but not always easy to look at. Animal's lives in captivity, their treatment and ultimate deaths are where she trains her lens. Many pictures we see in support of animal wellbeing are taken with the best intentions but by activists not photographers. McArthur is both, and she does both well.
After discovering her love for photography McArthur was encouraged by her mentor, Larry Towell, to find out what her point of view truly was and to explore it. At that moment her passion for picture taking and animal rights joined perfectly and soon afterwards the We Animals project was born. Her images promote the position that we are all animals, 'sentient beings with a will and desire to live free from harm and fear.' McArthur takes the hard photos, the ones that we don't always want to see, but through her talent with a camera, she presents them so artistically that we are drawn back to see both the image and the message.
The photographs in this book all tell a story and beside each one she provides the location and date the picture was taken, then goes on to talk about what is going on. We often assume that the abuse happens elsewhere but her captions will force you to rethink that. The bald eagle trapped behind its wire outdoor enclosure can only look at the blue sky beyond as its days are spent at an Ontario Safari Park.
As challenging as her photos of animals kept in tiny cages their whole lives are, the flip side of animals who've been rescued and lived out their remaining years in peaceful surroundings are as rewarding.
Her call is not that we all become vegan but rather that we accept responsibility for the way we treat the animals that sustain us. We have a moral obligation to the creatures we share this planet with to act in a responsible manner towards them. These magnificent animals should no longer be used for our entertainment at pathetically small zoo or aquarium enclosures. Nor do we still require their fur to keep us warm when we have so many alternatives.
McArthur has produced not only an outstanding collection of photographs that could stand alone without a single written word, but she has combined them with a thoughtful and passionate message that should be heard by everyone.
