.ltJo Spence

1934-1992

In 1995 two books have been published that are the work of Jo Spence. They are both part of her life's work in photography. Her regular working partner, Joan Soloman, in the introduction to one writes: "There is a version of femininity which tells us that women are passive, gentle, dependent, emotional, somewhat illogical, home-makers and madonna/mothers. It is an old myth kept firmly entrenched and constantly repeated, constructed over and over again through representations of women." 

In 1992 Jo Spence lost her ten year fight against breast cancer and leukaemia. As a photographer she documented this period and her pictures hold testimony to her ways of dealing with the illness. "I make no bones about having cancer (unlike millions of others who are whispered about), which has empowered me to run the gauntlet of the medical orthodoxy, using my camera to campaign against their inadequacies." Much of her work sprang from her roots as a working-class woman, and remained deliberately outside the mainstream. She advertised herself as: "Jo Spence, photographer - available for divorces, funerals, illness, social injustice, scenes of domestic violence, explorations of sexuality and any joyful events." She worked to make the invisible visible - to challenge the idealised view of women and family life.  "People can discover how to relate to themselves and to others more positively when armed with images of themselves - images which counteract the stereotypes usually seen in the media."  Her work continues to be shown to fresh audiences through new exhibitions and books. 

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.llImage:Through women's eyes
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