Jo Spence
Photo therapy: Double Shift / Double Crossed / Double Bind, 1984
Four colour photographs mounted by the artist onto black cardboard.
40 x 30 cms
15 11/16 x 11 12/16 ins
Series: 5. Photo Therapy Collaborations (1984-90)
12106
Provenance
Jo Spence Memorial ArchiveRichard Saltoun Gallery, London
Exhibitions
Jo Spence: Work (Part 2), Studio Voltaire. London, 12 June - 11 August 2012.Jo Spence : from Fairy Tales to Phototherapy. Photographs from the Hyman Collection, Arnolfini Bristol, (18th May 2020 - 20th June 2021) (this print)
'Jo Spence. Fairytales and Photography' at the Centre for British Photography (26 January - 28 May 2023)
Jo Spence: A Woman’s Place? at Belfast Exposed in Collaboration with the Centre for British Photography. 7th October 2024 – 21st December 2024
Lives Less Ordinary. Working-Class Britain Re-seen, Two Temple Place (25th January 2025 – 20th April 2025)
Literature
Ribalta, George and Terry Dennett. Beyond the Perfect Image. Photography, Subjectivity, Antagonism.Exhibition catalogue. Barcelona: MACBA, 2005, lower left image illus. p.351
Jo Spence, Putting myself in the picture: A political, personal, and photographic autobiography, 1986, p.149 (lower left image).
1984 or 1985 Collaboration with Rosy Martin. Four colour photographs mounted by the artist on cardboard. Each photograph: 18.1 x 12.6 cms Total dimensions: 40 x 30 cms Rosy Martin...
1984 or 1985
Collaboration with Rosy Martin.
Four colour photographs mounted by the artist on cardboard.
Each photograph: 18.1 x 12.6 cms
Total dimensions: 40 x 30 cms
Rosy Martin recalls that "Double Shift / Double Crossed / Double Bind is the preferred title for the whole phototherapy series which traced Jo's mother's life as a factory worker - then removing the evidence of her work (with swarfegan) - then being the mother who feeds her family (wearing an apron, cutting a loaf). See the Arena programme - we re-staged this for TV."
Writing on this photo therapy session Spence has explained: "In a photo therapy session with Rosy, I go back to a period in family history where I felt I had been abandoned. I try to imagine my mother, in playful mood, as a war-worker. What came to mind in the session is that at work she could enjoy the forbidden fag (my father banned her from smoking). I am surprised by the knowledge generated by this session, especially in relation to family health." (Jo Spence, Putting myself in the picture: A political, personal, and photographic autobiography, 1986, p.149)
We are grateful to Rosy Martin for her assistance in cataloguing this work.
Collaboration with Rosy Martin.
Four colour photographs mounted by the artist on cardboard.
Each photograph: 18.1 x 12.6 cms
Total dimensions: 40 x 30 cms
Rosy Martin recalls that "Double Shift / Double Crossed / Double Bind is the preferred title for the whole phototherapy series which traced Jo's mother's life as a factory worker - then removing the evidence of her work (with swarfegan) - then being the mother who feeds her family (wearing an apron, cutting a loaf). See the Arena programme - we re-staged this for TV."
Writing on this photo therapy session Spence has explained: "In a photo therapy session with Rosy, I go back to a period in family history where I felt I had been abandoned. I try to imagine my mother, in playful mood, as a war-worker. What came to mind in the session is that at work she could enjoy the forbidden fag (my father banned her from smoking). I am surprised by the knowledge generated by this session, especially in relation to family health." (Jo Spence, Putting myself in the picture: A political, personal, and photographic autobiography, 1986, p.149)
We are grateful to Rosy Martin for her assistance in cataloguing this work.