Jo Spence

Jo Spence (1934, London - 1992) was a British photographer. Many of her works were self portraits about her own fight with breast cancer.

Spence was born of working class parents in London, 1934. After beginning work as a studio photographer 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. She was involved in setting up Photography Workshop (1974) and Camerawork magazine (1976) and was a founder 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'.

Aged 46 she studied the theory and practice of photography at the Polytechnic of Central London, gaining a first class Honours Degree. It was at this time that she was also diagnosed as having breast cancer.