Jo spence biography

She started off as a wedding photographer and ran a studio from — Soon afterwards, she began documentary work in the early s, motivated by her political concerns. Both a socialist and feminist, she worked to represent these issues through her practice of photography, first as a founding member of the Hackney Flashersa collective of broadly feminist and socialist women who produced exhibitions such as 'Women and Work' and 'Who's Holding the Baby'.

InSpence studied the theory and practice of photography at the Polytechnic of Central London with photo theorist Victor Burgin. She gained a first class Honours Degree and moved on from her previous notions of photography, taking greater account of visual semiotics manifested in the medium. During the late s and into the early s her work became more focused on themes of domesticity and family life.

Inshe was diagnosed with breast cancer. After her diagnosis, Spence started to focus on identity, subjectivity, mental and physical health. By working collaboratively the person in front of the camera was both subject and author of the image. Alongside her photography, Spence maintained a career as an educator, writer, and broadcaster and undertook a three-month tour with her work to Australia, [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Canada, and the United States before discovering that she had leukemia from which she later died in London in Juneshortly after a civil marriage in May formalising her partnership with David Roberts.

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Jo spence biography

News Heroinic Stories Exhibitions Books. ReciteMe Toolbar. Hundred Heroines is supported by. Share Tweet Share Pin. Yvonne Buchheim. Guadalupe Maravilla. Simon Watney. Anne Boyer. Suleika Jaouad. Joey Solomon. Stephen Starkman. Andrea Gibson. Mary Cappello. Alicia Ostriker. Pelenakeke Brown. Navild Acosta and Fannie Sosa. Alice Wong. It was this that sparked her series, The Picture of Health?

Jo states in her autobiography Putting Myself In the Picture published through Camden Press that, " Through photo therapy, I was able to explore how I felt about my powerlessness as a patient, my relationship to doctors and nurses, my infantilisation whilst being managed and 'processed' within a state institution, and my memories of my parents ".

Niamh Coghlan: A proponent of collective photography, she revolutionized self-portraiture, famously establishing photo therapy, a discipline that used the camera as a tool to reflect on issues of society, class, gender, death and body politics. Music Eusexua is so much more than an ode to clubbing. What factors did you account for when choosing the pieces to exhibit?

How does it stand out?