Maud Sulter

Photo for the exhibit "Testimony: Three Blackwomen Photographers: Brenda Agard, Ingrid Pollard, Maud Sulter" at Camerawork London.

Sulter featured in The Thin Blackline (1985) exhibition, created by Lubaina Himid.[10] The exhibition displayed the art of Black and Asian women artists, re-centring the visibility of Black and Asian art in the British art scene. Sulter worked closely with Himid, including on the book Passion: Discourses on Blackwomen’s Creativity.[11]

Sulter's photographic practice included contemporary portraiture and montage. Her work typically referenced historical and mythical subjects. Her photography was exhibited across the UK and internationally, including at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1987, the Johannesburg Biennial (1996), and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2003. She received a number of awards and residencies, among them the British Telecom New Contemporaries Award 1990 and the Momart Fellowship at Tate Liverpool,[12] also in 1990.

As well as writing about art history and curating many exhibitions,[13] Sulter was also a poet and playwright, whose works include the collections As a Blackwoman (1985; her poem of the same title won the Vera Bell Prize from ACER, the Afro-Caribbean Education Resource, the previous year);[6] Zabat (1989); and Sekhmet (2005). She wrote a play inspired by the background of former Ghana head of state Jerry Rawlings, entitled Service to Empire (2002).[1] In addition, there are two other well-known poems published by Sulter: "Gone But Not Forgotten"[14] and "If Leaving You".[15]

Sulter was a lecturer of Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University,[4] lectured at a number of other English universities, and curated her own and other artists' work at British galleries since the mid-1980s, including at The People's Gallery in London, the Tate Gallery in Liverpool, and, in Glasgow, the Street Level Gallery and the Centre for Contemporary Art.[16]

Published in 1987 and her first solo exhibition was at The Black Art Gallery in a joint show with Lubaina Himid in September 1987.[17] Her work contains a poem and photography about her feminist views and representation of black women in history.[18] The dedication within her piece states: "We the women will fight... We the women will win." To access this poem click this link.

An art series by Sulter, "Zabat", is defined as a sacred dance performed by groups of thirteen, an occasion of power, possibly the origin of witches sabbat, black women's rite of passage.[19] In this collection of 9 large-scale portraits, contemporary black women posed as ancient muses.[20] Each portrait represented a different muse of Greek mythology. Sulter also wrote a series of poems for each muse, titled "Zabat Narratives."[19]

An art series named in Welsh called "Syrcas" (English translation: Circus), was produced by Sulter in 1993[21] is about reviving the forgotten history of black Europeans during the Holocaust and their genocide.[22] It includes a fictional character related to the historical background of her piece created by Sulter named Monique. Maud Sulter created a complementary poem called "Blood Money", which has been republished in English. You can access this poem by clicking this link. This series consists of a 16-work photomontage and is presented in five subdivided sets in close proximity.[23] The photomontage artworks were created on top of postcards with landscapes on them with multiple layers of different images collaged.[24] This work has been in an exhibition in the Chapelle de la Charité d'Arles,[25] in Arles, France, in 2016. To view these works you can click this link and view pages 3-5. For more information and commentary on this exhibition you can click this link.

Created in 1991 by Sulter, "a tells the story of a 19th-century Blackwoman artist who sails from the Americas to Europe to seek fame and fortune as a sculptor. Having achieved a successful career, she disappears." This exhibition was a solo show originally in the Tate Gallery, Liverpool, and it then toured several other galleries throughout 1991 and 1992.[26] This exhibition consisted of photographic prints, plaques out of marble, and a narrative. The narrative of this piece is about a black woman artist from America in the 19th century who had travelled to Rome in hopes of fortune and fame through her sculpting. This piece was inspired by Edmonia Lewis's life and career as an artist. Along with a commentary on Jean-Martin Charcot's work from the 19th century with "hysterical" women photographed to diagnose a feminine disorder. To view the pieces of this exhibition click this link.

A series created by Sulter in 1993 includes nine large-scale photographs mounted in wooden frames with annotations for each image.[27] The photographs in this exhibition were enlargements of her family's photo archive resembling her Scottish and Ghanian heritage. Sulter appears in four of the images as a child and her growing up, semblance of her identity. For a commentary and more in depth explanation of this work click this link.

Produced in 2002 as large-format color Polaroid prints and named after this poem by Charles Baudelaire inspired the piece. Sulter's ideals of this poem inspired her to portray herself in the photos with passion and emotion- opposing the "common view" on this piece as sexualized.[20] This exhibition is a series of close-up self-portraits of Sulter as a character inspired by Jeanne Duval (muse to Baudelaire).[20] The purpose of this work is to raise awareness about African and European cultures throughout history.[28] To view the portraits in this collection click here.

A piece created in 1985 out of mixed-media and meant as a social commentary on the 20th century, this work outlined the struggles and effects of racism towards African women during this time. Several of Sulter's previous poems from As a Blackwoman were included in these mixed-media collages. Exhibited in 1985 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts of London and curated by Lubaina Himid.[20]

Twa Blak Wimmin ("Two Black Women"), created by Sulter in 1997, was made "to recognise a more historical link between Europe and Africa."[20] The title alludes to older Scots language and the story of historical Scottish women, "Blak Margaret" and "Blak Elene".[29] To view this piece click this link.

Inspired by poetry written by Jeanne Duval and her way of writing "which explore[d] her sensuality, sensuality and ethnicity..."[30] This work was created in 1994, after multiple other works inspired by Duval, such as Zabat and Les Bijoux. Sulter had a "visual fascination with Jeanne Duval" since 1988, which "willed" her to create a piece more specific to Duval.[20] This series of four photocollages features a portrait photographer Nadar, who was close with Duval. Sulter also published a book in relation to this piece, titled Jeanne Duval: A Melodrama, which can be accessed by clicking here. This was exhibited at National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh in 2003.

Sulter worked with Sheba Feminist Publisher's Collective, starting in 1982.[31] As the collective's only Black woman writer at the time, Sulter recognized an increasing need for writing tailored to Black women, and co-founded the Black Women's Creative Project with Ingrid Pollard.[31] The magazine created a variety of content ranging from "hair braiding, poetry and performance".[31]

• As a Blackwoman, Poems 1982–1985. Urban Fox Press. 1985. ISBN 9781872124001.
• Zabat: Poetics of a Family Tree. Urban Fox Press. 1989. ISBN 9781872124056.
• Passion: Discourses on Blackwomen's Creativity. An Urban Fox Press cultural studies imprint. Urban Fox Press. 1990. ISBN 9781872124315.
• Necropolis. Urban Fox Press. 1990. ISBN 9781872124063.
• Service to Empire. A19. 2002. ISBN 978-0954330200.
• Sekhmet: A Decade or So of Poems. Dumfries and Galloway Cultural Services. 2005. ISBN 978-0946280698.

• Echo: Works by Women Artists 1850-1940 (Exhibition book). London, England: Tate Gallery Publications. 1991. ISBN 9781854370815.
• Cherry, Deborah (2015). Maud Sulter: Passion. London, England: Altitude Editions. ISBN 978-1-906908-36-2.
• Lepine, Ayla; Lodde, Matt; McKever, Rosalind (2015). Revival: Memories, Identities, Utopias. Courtauld Books Online. ISBN 978-1-907485-04-6. In the section by Deborah Cherry, "The Ghost Begins by Coming Back: Revenants and Returns in Maud Sulter's Photomontages"