Jo Spence: The Feminist Photography of a Cultural Sniper
Jo Spence was a British writer, educator and photographer -- although she was quite ambivalent about being termed an 'artist'. In fact, she much preferred to call herself a 'Cultural Sniper'. But instead of brandishing a gun, Spence used her camera to shoot and expose issues in culture.
One of the first woman photographers to confront the anxiety of seeing oneself in photographs, this HENI Talk explores how Spence targeted the media's representation of women always coded as young, plucked and perfectly made-up by laying her own body on the line.
Time Period:
21st century
Themes:
Dr Patrizia Di Bello is co-director of the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre at Birkbeck, University of London, and Senior Lecturer in the History of Art Department. Her publications include Sculptural Photographs from The Calotype to Digital Technologies (2017), The Photobook from Talbot to Ruscha (2012), edited with Colette Wilson and Shamoon Zamir, and Women's Albums and Photography in Victorian Britain: Ladies, Mothers and Flirts (2007). She serves on the editorial boards of History of Photography, Art History and Photographies.
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