A Picture of Health: Events

Speaker Series

Yvonne Buchheim

German artist Yvonne Buchheim discusses her multi-media exhibition Life Turned Upside Down (2021), developed during two years of breast cancer treatment and recovery. Buchheim presents her work and discusses the influence of pioneering artist Jo Spence on her project.

First of three in the speaker series for A Picture of Health: Jo Spence, a Politics of Disability and Illness, with German artist Yvonne Buchheim.

Pelenakeke Brown

Pelenakeke Brown, a Sāmoan/Pakehā, crip artist based in Aotearoa (New Zealand), discusses her work, which explores the intersections between disability theory and Sāmoan concepts of time and space. Brown describes her practice, which spans visual art, text, and performance, in relation to the experience of crip time, including the print series grasp + release, in which she used her medical records.

Second of three in the speaker series for A Picture of Health: Jo Spence, a Politics of Disability and Illness, Sāmoan/Pakehā artist Pelenakeke Brown.

Simon Watney

UK writer, art critic, and pioneering AIDS activist Simon Watney discusses his history of organizing and advocacy in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, focusing on his shared work with the disabled artist and activist Jo Spence. Watney reflects on the politics of HIV/AIDS then—and now.

Third of three in the speaker series for A Picture of Health: Jo Spence, a Politics of Disability and Illness, with UK writer, art historian, and AIDS activist Simon Watney.

About This Site

A Picture of Health: Jo Spence, a Politics of Disability and Illness is a multi-pronged project curated by Kenny Fries and Elisabeth Frost.

In 1986 the British artist, educator, and activist Jo Spence (1934-1992) described the question fundamental to her work: “how to represent a body in crisis.” Spence’s work reveals powerful political and artistic responses to the experience of inhabiting such a body and is as timely as ever. This website places her work in the context of the lived experience of chronic illness and of contemporary Disability Arts.

The Artists

Links to artists, with an image representing each artist that is explored in further detail on the artist's page.