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Jo Spence

1934–1992

Libido Uprising Part I and Part II 1989
© The Jo Spence Memorial Archive
License this image
In Tate Modern

Performer and Participant

Free

Biography

Jo Spence (15 June 1934, London – 24 June 1992, Camden) was a British photographer, a writer, cultural worker, and a photo therapist. She began her career in the field of commercial photography but soon started her own agency which specialised in family portraits, and wedding photos. In the 1970s, she refocused her work towards documentary photography, adopting a politicized approach to her art form, with socialist and feminist themes revisited throughout her career. Self-portraits about her own fight with breast cancer, depicting various stages of her breast cancer to subvert the notion of an idealized female form, inspired projects in 'photo therapy', a means of using the medium to work on psychological health.

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Artworks

Left Right
  • The Highest Product of Capitalism (after John Heartfield)

    Jo Spence, with Terry Dennett
    1979
    On display at Tate Britain part of The 80s
  • Remodelling Photo History: Colonization

    Jo Spence, with Terry Dennett
    1981–2
    On display at Tate Britain part of The 80s
  • Remodelling Photo History: Revisualization

    Jo Spence, with Terry Dennett
    1981–2
    On display at Tate Britain part of The 80s
  • Remodelling Photo History: Realization

    Jo Spence, with Terry Dennett
    1981–2
    On display at Tate Britain part of The 80s
  • Crisis Project / Picture of Health? (Property of Jo Spence?)

    Jo Spence, with Terry Dennett
    1982
  • Libido Uprising Part I and Part II

    Jo Spence, with Rosy Martin, with David Roberts
    1989
    On display at Tate Modern part of Performer and Participant

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