When I started my third year, and I explained to my tutors that I was hoping to research into how Photography can be used as a form of therapy, someone had mentioned Jo Spence to me, who since has come up an unprecedented amount of times as a lot of her work is based on Phototherapy.
For a number of her photographic projects, she would collaborate with different individuals who would take on the role of psychotherapists, such as Rosy martin and Valerie Walkerdine, and she would analyse certain aspects of her life and learn things about them that she otherwise would not have necessarily realised.
Spence had a lot of problems with her mother and so a big part of her phototherapy treatment would be to do with how her mother would act during her upbringing, to get into character, she would dress up as her mother in different situations and this would, in theory, help her to feel a connection and to empathise with her mother to be able to understand the relationship between them.
After going to an exhibition at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol showing Spence’s work and doing a fair amount of research into her practice, I have realized that as much as I admire her thought process behind the works she produces, I am really not a big fan of the work itself, which has only made me like her more. I believe that she has inspired me to realize that, as everyone is different, it does not mean that if I wish to pursue a project or even a career into this idea of photo therapy, it does not have to be in the same theme of manner that she does. This is probably a very odd thing to takeaway from her work as I am sure she was very unlikely to be thinking of it this way, but for me, I have figured out that my way of working to create a sense of therapy and help is to walk through nature and to be with myself and my thoughts without any distractions. Simply walking with classical music and just being alone is something that has really helped me to better myself and has been a very effective way of therapy for me. I have so many unanswered questions in my head, but when I am alone I have nothing to worry about, I cannot make any mistakes in which would cause me to overthink later on or anything of the sort. So I am hoping that this project will help me to make these questions a little more clear in my head and to create a bit of a safer space for myself in terms of my mental health.
From looking into Jo Spence, from what I can tell she was quite angry at society and did not conform to it, which is something that I truly admire, she was able to be herself which, in my opinion is most likely what helped her to jump into different characters when working in her photo therapy sessions, for example when she would dress as her mother as shown in the images above. O even when she was able to take pictures to show how she felt and what her mental state represented, for example her photography set demonstrating over-eating.
The facial expression of Jo is one of sadness, almost forlorn, as she looks down at the treats she holds in her hands, knowing that she shouldn’t eat them but wanting them, nonetheless. Spence’s true accomplishment is her ability to depict herself unashamedly and without fear, in ways that are not traditionally attractive. Spence’s body was at odds with the Western manufactured ideal of beauty: the scar from her lumpectomy in this image is visible, next to the Bounty bars, strategically placed, and one is fully aware that she is slightly overweight from the visible rolls of fat on her stomach. Spence presents herself as the antithesis to standard beauty ideals, showing she is imperfect, from her messy hair to her scarred breasts.
As stated in this extract from - https://www.richardsaltoun.com/content/feature/305/artworks-11565-jo-spence-photo-therapy-greedy-1989/ - she is fully aware that she does not necessarily fit beauty standards in the modern society and so she almost uses this power to create an image which some would find disgusting and unflattering which makes the message even stronger in terms of understanding that ‘Emotional eating’ is some people’s way of dealing with stress or other mental health issues. This work is titled ‘Greedy’ which in my opinion can be such a powerful word as it can cause immediate guilt when being called it.
I really do admire Spence for these forceful and important messages that she is giving out, she holds a lot of control and dominance in her work which makes it so much more effective to the viewer.