Jo Spence

Jo Spence (15 June 1934, London – 24 June 1992, Camden) was a British photographer, writer, cultural worker, and 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 politicised approach to her art form, with socialist and feminist themes revisited throughout her career. Self-portraits about her own fight with breast cancer, inspired projects in 'photo therapy', a means of using the medium to work on psychological health.

Early life Jo Spence was born on 15 June 1934 in London to working-class parents. Both of her parents worked in factories, and she left school at the age of 13. She later attended a secretarial college, and, in the 1950s, she became a secretary in a photographic studio.

Career Spence started off as a wedding photographer and ran a studio from 1967–1974. Soon afterwards, she began documentary work in the early 1970s, 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 Flashers (1974), a collective of broadly feminist and socialist women who produced exhibitions such as 'Women and Work' and 'Who's Holding the Baby'. with whom she continued to collaborate for the rest of her life.

In 1974 Dennett and Spence made a series of documentations in sound and image of Roma people and Travellers whom they befriended in 'illegal' encampments in the London area. Never exhibited or released in book form, it was only posthumously, in 2025 that 280 images from the project were published in Our Studio Was The World.

In 1979, Spence 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. With fellow students Mary Ann Kennedy, Jane Munro and Charlotte Pembrey, Spence co-founded The Polysnappers. During the late 1970s and into the early 1980s her work became more focused on themes of domesticity and family life.

In 1982, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After her diagnosis, Spence started to focus on identity, subjectivity, mental and physical health. She rejected conventional therapy and explored holistic therapy and the personal and feminist political dimension of living with cancer. It was through experiencing the effectiveness of using photography in confronting and documenting her hospitalisation and illness that Spence, with Rosy Martin, developed 'photo therapy' in which the subject was empowered to control their image to discover and represent unexpressed or repressed feelings and ideas. By working collaboratively the person in front of the camera was both subject and author of the image. Other collaborators/therapists included Ya'acov Kahn, David Roberts and Dr Tim Sheard.

Alongside her photography, Spence maintained a career as an educator, writer, and broadcaster.

Death and legacy Spence undertook a three-month tour with her work to Australia, Canada, and the United States before discovering that she had leukemia, from which she later died in London in June 1992, shortly after a civil marriage in May formalising her partnership with David Roberts. Terry Dennett, who was a former collaborator and friend of Spence, was the curator of the Jo Spence Memorial Archive.

Spence left recordings in which she spoke about her life; one a seven-hour British Library interview and a self-recorded tape which were released in 2026 in book form. The transcriptions detail her early and working life, her feminist political convictions and thoughts on class, and how those motivated her radical approach to documentary practice. Also recorded are her candid revelations about her chronic illness, on her relationships, and her struggle to survive while persisting in her self-directed, often unpaid, life-long practice.

Works 1973–75: Children's Rights Workshop; documentary 1979: Beyond The Family Album 1980: Fairy Tales and Photography, BA thesis, republished 2020 1980–82: Remodelling Photo History 1980–82: The Polysnappers 1982–86: The Picture of Health? 1982: Cancer Shock, Photonovel

1984–onwards: Photo therapy projects 1988–89: Narratives of Dis-ease: Ritualised Procedures, produced with psychotherapist, Dr Tim Sheard 1989: Libido Uprising, photo therapy works produced with Rosy Martin and Spence's partner David Roberts 1990: Cultural Sniper, produced by Spence and David Roberts 1990: Jo Spence in collaboration with Terry Dennett: Collaborative works; Australian tour of Melbourne, Victorian Centre for Photography at the George Paton Gallery, University of Melbourne Sept. 27-Oct. 11; Sydney, Tin Sheds Gallery, University of Sydney, Oct. 17-Nov. 11; Adelaide, Experimental Art Foundation Nov. 22-Dec. 16. 1991–92: The Crisis Project: Scenes of the Crime. Unfinished collaboration with Terry Dennett 1991–2: The Final Project 1991–92: Metamorphosis 1992: Hospice Diaries

Publications Terry Dennett, David Evans, Sylvia Gohl and Jo Spence, Photography/Politics: One, (London: Photography Workshop, 1979)

Patricia Holland, Jo Spence and Simon Watney, Photography/ Politics: Two, (London: Photography Workshop/Comedia, 1986) Jo Spence: Putting Myself in the Picture: a Political, Personal and Photographic Autobiography. Frances Borzello, editor. Camden Press. 1986.

Posthumous Jo Spence and Joan Soloman (Ed.), What Can a Woman Do with a Camera?: Photography for Women, (London: Scarlet Press, 1995) Jo Spence. Beyond the Perfect Image. Photography, Subjectivity, Antagonism, MACBA Exhibition catalogue, (Barcelona: MACBA, 2005) Jo Spence: The Final Project. Louisa Lee, editor. Ridinghouse. 2013.