Maud Sulter

Born Sept 1960 Glasgow, Scotland, died Feb 2008 Dumfries, Scotland

Location: St Augustin, Brookland

Maud Sulter first worked as a writer and poet, later turning to exploring visual arts practices.

She made a significant contribution in representing Black Women Artists as a writer with the Sheba Feminist Publisher's Collective and was known for her collaborations with other Black feminist scholars and activists. She exhibited in The Thin Blackline ICA 1985, curated by Lubaina Himid, marked the arrival on the British art scene of a radical  generation of young Black and Asian women artists. They challenged their collective invisibility in the art world and engaged with the social, cultural, political and aesthetic issues of the time. The exhibition displayed the art of highly esteemed Black and Asian women artists, re-centring the visibility of Black and Asian art in the British art scene. Sulter worked closely with Lubaina Himid, including on the book Passion: Discourses on Blackwomen’s Creativity.

Maud produced a series of portrait images ZABAT, now in the V&A, as a way of exploring the relationship between black women and western cultural tradition. Maud Sulter of Ghanaian and Scottish parentage, chose to represent nine life size portraits of black women artists, writers and musicians, referencing the nine Greek muses. The portraits include Lubaina Himid, Dorothea Smartt and Abiola Agana.

This series of images allowed Maud to create her own family tree and to explore her sense of self  and identity amongst a black womens' collective. She is Calliope the muse of epic poetry, her photographs use the formal associations of a large guilded frame, and Victorian symbolism familiar to a Eurocentric white audience. The backdrop, props and seated pose are all retained but the image is transformed by the resolute, strong black woman at its centre.