Jo Spence

Jo Spence has been an integral figure within photographic discourse since the 1970s. Throughout her diverse projects she is well known for her highly politicised approach to photography and the representation of her own struggles with cancer.

After Spence was diagnosed with breast cancer, much of her subsequent work was a response to her treatment by the medical establishment and her attempt to navigate its authority through alternative therapies. Her work presents Spence’s concerns through photonarrative, montage and performative re-staging of personal trauma. Using her camera, Spence challenged her body and her illness and found news ways of claiming her identity back.