Maud Sulter

Maud Sulter (19 September 1960 – 27 February 2008) was a Scottish contemporary fine artist, photographer, writer, educator, feminist, cultural historian, and curator of Ghanaian heritage. She began her career as a writer and poet, becoming a visual artist not long after. By the end of 1985 she had shown her artwork in three exhibitions and her first collection of poetry had been published. Sulter was known for her collaborations with other Black feminist scholars and activists, capturing the lives of Black people in Europe. She was a champion of the African-American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, and she was fascinated by the Haitian-born French performer Jeanne Duval.

Early life and education

Born on 19 September 1960 in Glasgow, Scotland, to a Scottish mother and a Ghanaian father,Margaret Busby (ed.), "Maud Sulter", ''Daughters of Africa'', London: Vintage, 1993, p. 921. Maud Sulter attained a Master's degree in Photographic Studies"Maud Sulter" (obituary)
''The Herald Newspaper'', 22 March 2008. from the University of Derby. Her maternal grandfather had been an amateur photographer. She was Principal Lecturer in Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University, 1992–94.

Sexuality

In Sulter's ''Call and Response'', she raised the topic of "the finest" and radical artists in London at the time identified as lesbians. Sulter noted that lesbian-identifying women typically went unspoken, then said: "I sensed a danger there, a danger that pulled me back from the brink of desire, the desire to know myself truly, and it took time to resolve the need to confront the danger head on." Sulter wrote of her poetry: "The central body of my poetic work is unequivocally the love poetry which is addressed to both genders."

Career

Art, photography, poetry

Sulter participated in ''The Thin Black Line'' exhibition, curated by Lubaina Himid in 1987, the Johannesburg Biennale (1995), 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, also in 1990.

As well as writing about art history and curating many exhibitions, Sulter was a poet and playwright. Her publications works include the poetry 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); ''Zabat: Poetics of a Family Tree'' (1989); and ''Sekhmet: A Decade or So of Poems'' (2005). Her play, ''Service to Empire'' (2002), was inspired by the background of former Ghana head of state Jerry Rawlings. Two poems by Sulter are accessible online: "Gone But Not Forgotten" and "If Leaving You". Sulter's writings are available at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, Glasgow Women's Library, the Stuart Hall Library, London, Poetry Society, London, Tate Library, London, and many other libraries.

Sulter was a lecturer of Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University, 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, Tate Liverpool, Touchstones Rochdale, Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow, with Himid at the Elbow Room in London and at her own gallery, Rich Women of Zurich in London.

Art works

''Sphinx''

Sphinx was Sulter's first major series of photographs. This series of nine black and white photographs shot in The Gambia (Harris Museum and Art Gallery Preston) was first exhibited at Sulter's solo exhibition a
The Black Art Gallery
in September 1987. The exhibition brochure includes a poem and statements and her manifesto: "We the women will fight... We the women will win."

''Zabat''

Maud Sulter defined "Zabat" as "a sacred dance performed by groups of thirteen", "an occasion of power", possibly the origin of witches sabbat, "Blackwomen's rite of passage". In this series of nine large-scale cibachrome photographs, contemporary black women artists, musicians and writers pose as ancient muses. Each portrait represented a different muse of Greek mythology. Sulter wrote a series of prose poems for each muse, titled "Zabat Narratives".

''Syrcas''

An art series named in Welsh "''Syrcas''" (English translation: Circus) was produced by Sulter in 1993, and is about reviving the forgotten history of black Europeans during the Holocaust and their genocide. It includes a fictional character related to the historical background of her piece created by Sulter named Monique. 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. The photomontage artworks were created on top of postcards with landscapes on them and multiple layers of different images collaged. This work has been in an exhibition in the Chapelle de la Charité d'Arles, in Arles, France, in 2016. To view these works you can click thi
link and view pages 3-5.

''Hysteria''

Created by Sulter in 1991 on a Momart residency at Tate Liverpool, ''Hysteria'', according to the artist's accompanying text, "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

''Hysteria'' was inspired by the life and career of Edmonia Lewis, a sculptor of African-American and Chippewa heritage. This series of black-and-white and colour photographs includes eight portraits, four pairs of still lives, each pair representing the seasons, and engraved marble plaques, initially arranged around a massive piece of marble. The central character, modelled by Sulter, is the artist Hysteria. The portrait photographs represent figures in Hysteria's social and artistic circles. Sitters include Bernardine Evaristo, Lubaina Himid, 1991–92
To view the pieces of this exhibition click this link.

''Significant Others''

A series created by Sulter in 1993 includes nine large-scale photographs mounted in wooden frames, with annotations for each image. The photographs in this exhibition were enlargements of her family's photo archive resembling her Scottish and Ghanaian heritage. Sulter appears in four of the images as a child and her growing up, semblance of her identity.

''Les Bijoux''

Produced in 2002 as large-format colour Polaroid prints and named after a poem of the same name 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. This exhibition is a series of close-up self-portraits of Sulter as a character inspired by Jeanne Duval (muse to Baudelaire). The purpose of this work is to raise awareness about African and European cultures throughout history.

''Poetry in Motion''

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

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases