Jo Spence was a key figure on the left-wing London art scene of the 1970s and 1980s. She combined her feminist critique with a critique of the limited formalist use of photography in the field of art. Her often collaborative artistic activity did not result in individual photographic images, which can be judged only on the basis of their formal aesthetic content. Her images also reflect the photographic technique employed (as in the case of contact prints that render visible the means of photographic production) and allow room for documentary and political commitment. Jo Spence developed a brave and versatile collection of photographic self-portraits outside the canons imposed by the matriarchal society, also including her fight against her own breast cancer.