ysvlek: Lumpectomy Photos

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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.
"A Picture of Health?" is a body of work in which Jo Spence responds to her disease and treatment through photography, channelling her research and feelings about breast cancer and orthodox medicine into an exhibition.
This important exhibition formed the basis of a number of articles and educational talks. Her work raises several important issues based on her experience of cancer treatment, offering a unique insight of a patient's perspective for those in the medical profession.

Breast Reconstruction

Left lumpectomy reconstruction

Lumpectomy Reconstruction: fat

lumpectomy reconstruction

Lumpectomy and immediate

She was particularly interested in the power dynamics of the doctor/patient relationship and the role of the healthcare institution in the infantilization of patients.

Lumpectomy, Mastectomy

-lumpectomy-reconstruction

Figure 2: Bisected lumpectomy

Lumpectomy Reconstruction

Lumpectomy, Mastectomy

"Passing through the hands of the medical profession can be terrifying when you have breast cancer."
The photograph of her, taken whilst having a mammograph done, exemplifies her vulnerability, as semi-naked, she literally has to place her body under the control and scrutiny of this machine.

Lumpectomy Reconstruction #1

Left lumpectomy reconstruction

Lumpectomy Reconstruction #2

lumpectomy, reconstruction

Lumpectomy Reconstruction

Jo Spence responded to this by deciding to document what was happening to her through photographic records, thereby becoming the active subject of her own investigation, rather than the object of the doctors' medical discourse. Following a lumpectomy she decided to undertake a holistic approach to managing her illness, and opted for Traditional Chinese Medicine in preference to undergoing radio- and chemotherapy. In conjunction with this she used phototherapy (literally using photography to heal) to tackle the emotional crisis which suffering from cancer created for her. Through phototherapy she explained how she felt about her powerlessness as a patient, her relationship to doctors and nurses and her infantilization whilst being managed and processed by a state institution. This work included photos of her dressed as an infant, and to some extent echo her feelings about the class struggle, and her fight to stand as an individual, on an equal footing with those who hold power in our society.