Fighting Fire with Fire is one of Sarah Lucas’s most iconic self-portraits. She is seen here smoking a cigarette with a defiant swagger that parodies male movie stars like James Dean or Clint Eastwood. Since the early 1990s Lucas has knowingly adopted typically ‘macho’ gestures, questioning the traditional, dominant gender types that exist in popular culture. Cigarettes are also a recurring motif in many of her photographs, acting as both a rebel accessory and a symbol for the passing of time. The title of this photograph also alludes to the reckless and self-destructive nature of smoking.