Extended Photographic Practice: Rosy Martin & Jo Spence
A Daughter’s View: The Photography of Jo Spence and Rosy Martin explores portraiture, identity and memory through the pioneering collaboration between British artists Jo Spence (1934–1992) and Rosy Martin (b. 1946, London). Working together from the 1980s, Spence and Martin developed an experimental photographic practice combining self-portraiture, performance, personal narrative and phototherapy. Their photographs challenge the conventions of portraiture, using the body, re-enactment and role-play to examine how memory, experience and identity are constructed.
Both artists used photography as a means of confronting experiences that are often private or difficult to represent. Spence brought questions of class, gender, illness and representation into her self-portraiture, while Martin explored photography as a process of accessing and reworking memory and emotion. Together, they developed a practice in which the camera became a space for reflection, transformation and psychological enquiry. A Daughter’s View highlights their enduring contribution to photographic practice, demonstrating how personal experience can become a powerful means of questioning wider social, cultural and visual conventions.
Rosy Martin (b. 1946, London) is a British artist whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses self-portraiture, photography, video and performance. Her work explores memory, identity, family relationships and the psychological construction of the self. Working as both an artist and photographer-therapist, Martin developed collaborative approaches to phototherapy based on re-enactment and personal storytelling.
Jo Spence (1934–1992, London) was a British photographer, writer and cultural worker whose practice combined photography, feminism, documentary and social critique. Initially working as a commercial photographer, she later developed a highly personal photographic practice addressing class, gender, illness, ageing, family and representation. Her collaborative work with Martin became an important contribution to the development of phototherapy and expanded understandings of photography as a form of social and personal practice.
Year: 1992
Artists: Jo Spence and Rosy Martin
Exhibition: A Daughter’s View: The Photography of Jo Spence and Rosy Martin
Venue: Watershed Photographic Gallery
Format: Two-person exhibition
Works: Photography, self-portraiture, performance and video
Produced and exhibited by: Watershed Photographic Gallery
Support: Arts Council England
Country: United Kingdom