Jo Spence
Unique Artist's Book: "The History Lesson: Self as Image" (Double page 07), 1982
Album
38 x 24.5 cms
14 15/16 x 9 10/16 ins
Series: 2. The History Lesson: Self as Image, Also Known as Remodelling Photo History (1982-83)
12116
Provenance
Jo Spence Memorial ArchiveRichard Saltoun Gallery, London
Exhibitions
Medicine in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow, Poland, (22 April 2016 - 2 October 2016).Jo Spence : from Fairy Tales to Phototherapy. Photographs from the Hyman Collection, Arnolfini Bristol, (18th May 2020 - 20th June 2021) (this print)
Literature
Putting Myself in the Picture: Jo Spence. Camden Press: London, 1986. Illustrated p 161
Double page from unique artist's book. 21 images: 13 gelatin silver prints (including one with four images), 4 photocopied images and one colour print. This picture of Spence in a...
Double page from unique artist's book.
21 images: 13 gelatin silver prints (including one with four images), 4 photocopied images and one colour print.
This picture of Spence in a motorbike helmet does not appear on Remodelling Photo History but is one of the most celebrated images in the series A Picture of Health. Spence has written about this image: "The analogy between the ear on cancer and the war in Vietnam is more than metaphorical. Since the rise of the cellular hypothesis - that cancer is amysterious, tumorous conditionof localized origin - the medical establishment has sanctioned only three methods of treatment: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. On a larger scale these are precisely the three major weapons (search-and-destry, bombardment and chemical warfare) utilized militarily against social problems (i.e. political and economic insurrections) in Vietnam and other parts of the Third World" (Alex Jack, Cancer Control Journal, vol.5, no 3/4, quoted by Jo Spence in Jo Spence, Putting myself in the picture: A political, personal, and photographic autobiography, 1986, p.161)
This important album provides a previously unrecorded version of Terry Dennett and Jo Spence's seminal series The History Lesson: Self as Image (also known as Remodelling Photo History). In addition to containing key images from the series, the album marries them to related images. These additional images have the effect of deepening the autobiographical dimension of the series. In so doing, the album, represents one of the very first instances in which Spence foregrounds her breast cancer as a subject. Representing a pivotal moment, this album anticipates the future direction of Spence's work by marrying Remodelling Photo History to her subsequent series Remodelling Medical History and A Picture of Health.
21 images: 13 gelatin silver prints (including one with four images), 4 photocopied images and one colour print.
This picture of Spence in a motorbike helmet does not appear on Remodelling Photo History but is one of the most celebrated images in the series A Picture of Health. Spence has written about this image: "The analogy between the ear on cancer and the war in Vietnam is more than metaphorical. Since the rise of the cellular hypothesis - that cancer is amysterious, tumorous conditionof localized origin - the medical establishment has sanctioned only three methods of treatment: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. On a larger scale these are precisely the three major weapons (search-and-destry, bombardment and chemical warfare) utilized militarily against social problems (i.e. political and economic insurrections) in Vietnam and other parts of the Third World" (Alex Jack, Cancer Control Journal, vol.5, no 3/4, quoted by Jo Spence in Jo Spence, Putting myself in the picture: A political, personal, and photographic autobiography, 1986, p.161)
This important album provides a previously unrecorded version of Terry Dennett and Jo Spence's seminal series The History Lesson: Self as Image (also known as Remodelling Photo History). In addition to containing key images from the series, the album marries them to related images. These additional images have the effect of deepening the autobiographical dimension of the series. In so doing, the album, represents one of the very first instances in which Spence foregrounds her breast cancer as a subject. Representing a pivotal moment, this album anticipates the future direction of Spence's work by marrying Remodelling Photo History to her subsequent series Remodelling Medical History and A Picture of Health.
