Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella
Jo Spence
Accompanied by Class Slippers by Dr Frances Hatherley, with a preface by Marina Warner.
RRB Photobooks and The Hyman Collection
December 2020
RRP £80 Pre-order £75 available here
Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella by Jo Spence
Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella, is a reproduction of Jo Spence‘s BA thesis. Written in 1982, this landmark thesis aimed to untangle interconnected gender and class oppressions in historic fairy tales. Jo asks ‘How do we take a story like Cinderella out of the archives, off the bookshelves, out of the retail stores and attempt to prise out its latent class content? Its political and social uses?’
Jo’s thesis was a crucial document created at a vital point in her career. This version contains her handwritten markings and corrections, alongside her use of imagery from archival prints to magazines, book covers and photography to illustrate and enhance her argument. The thesis solidified her previous free-flowing thoughts, encompassed the key concerns her past and future work and formed powerful arguments which went on to mobilise future projects.
‘By reproducing in facsimile Jo Spence’s exceptional dissertation, this publication pays homage to her methods and her independence of mind. With its Merz-like, scrapbook feel, it’s a form of domestic production in itself and a unique example of book-making history before widespread digitisation in the home. A typewritten, collaged work from before an epoch of PowerPoint and Photoshop, Fairytales and Photography, or, another look at Cinderella can take its place in its own right as one of Spence’s significant cultural interventions.’ – Marina Warner
From Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella Jo Spence © The Jo Spence Memorial Archive, Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto.
From Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella Jo Spence © The Hyman Collection, courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery, London.
From Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella Jo Spence © The Hyman Collection, courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery, London.
From Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella Jo Spence © The Hyman Collection, courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery, London.
From Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella Jo Spence © The Hyman Collection, courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery, London.
