Maud Sulter

She was a champion of the African-American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, and was fascinated by the Haitian-born French performer Jeanne Duval.

• Name — Maud Sulter • Born — 19 September 1960 • Birthplace — Glasgow, Scotland • Died — 27 February 2008 • Place of death — Dumfries, Scotland • Education — University of Derby • Children — 3, Ama, Efia and Alexander • Occupation — Artist, photographer, writer and curator • Notable Works — As a Blackwoman (1985)

Born on 19 September 1960 in Glasgow, Scotland, to a Scottish mother and a Ghanaian father, Maud Sulter attained a master's degree in Photographic Studies from the University of Derby. Her maternal grandfather had been an amateur photographer.

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."

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 at 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."

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".

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 this link and view pp. 3–5.

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, Delta Streete and musician Miles Ofuso-Danso. First exhibited at Tate Liverpool, Hysteria travelled to Rochdale, Street Level Photoworks and the Royal Festival Hall, 1991–92. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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

Inspired by poetry written by Jeanne Duval and her way of writing "which explore[d] her sensuality, sensuality and ethnicity..." 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. 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 Publishers' collective, starting in 1982. As the collective's only Black woman writer at the time, Sulter recognized an increasing need for writing tailored to Black women. She co-founded the Blackwomen's Creativity Project in the early 1980s with Ingrid Pollard. The magazine created a variety of content ranging from "hair braiding, poetry and performance". She created her own publishing imprint, Urban Fox Press, releasing a new edition of her first collection of poetry, As a Blackwoman, along with her second poetry collection, Zabat: Poetics of a Family Tree, both in 1989.

Solo exhibitions • Date — Name — Location — Notes • 1987 — Sphinx x – A Black Photographic Herstory — The Black Art Gallery, London, England • 1991–1992 — Maud Sulter: Hysteria — Various locations: London, Liverpool, Birmingham • 1991 — Zabat — Camerawork, London, England • 1993 — Akwaba — Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver, Canada • 1993 — Proverbs of Adwoa — Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York City, New York • 1994 — Plantation — University of Leeds Gallery, Leeds; Plug In, Winnipeg, Canada • 1994 — Syrcas — Wrexham Library Art Centre and Tour, Wrexham, Wales • 1995 — Alba — Glasgow: Centre for Contemporary Art; Belfast: Ormeau Baths; Preston: Harris Museum and Art Gallery • 1995 — Syrcas at Africus — Johannesburg Biennale. Johannesburg: Greater Johannesburg Transitional Metropolitan Council • 1999 — My Father's House — Rich Women of Zurich, London, England • 2000 — Plantation — Centre for Contemporary Art, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, England • 2003 — Scots Poets — St Andrews: Stanza at the Byre Theatre • 2003 — A Dozen Kisses — Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland • 2003 — Jeanne Duval: A Melodrama — Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland • 2004 — About Face. — Edinburgh, Scotland — Organised by the Scottish Poetry Library. • 2005 — Sekhmet — Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries • 2016 — Passion — Impressions Gallery, Bradford, England

Group exhibitions • Dates — Name — Artists — Location — Notes • 1987 — Lubaina Himid: New Robes for MaShulan — Maud Sulter, Lubaina Himid — Rochdale Art Gallery, Rochdale, England — The work, A Room for MaSHULAN. • 1988 — Gold Blooded Warrior — Maud Sulter, Lubaina Himid — Tom Allen Centre, London, England • 1989 — Blackwoman Song — Maud Sulter, Lubaina Himid — Sisterwrite Gallery, London, England • 1990 — Treatise on the Sublime: Maud Sulter, Lubaina Himid — Maud Sulter, Lubaina Himid — Phebe Conley Art Gallery, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, California • 1995 — Word Not Found. — Maud Sulter, Lubaina Himid — Galerie Palais Walderdorff, Trier, Germany • 2002 — Speak English — Maud Sulter, Lubaina Himid — Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland • 2002 — Encontros Da Imagem photography festival — Braga, Portugal • 2006 — Reading the Image: Poetics of the Black Diaspora — Maud Sulter, Deanna Bowen, Christopher Cozier, Michael Fernandes. — Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, Canada • 2008 — Black Womanhood, Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body — Various locations: Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth, Davis Museum and Cultural Centre, San Diego Museum of Art • 2011 — Thin Black Line(s). — Maud Sulter, Sutapa Biswas, Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan — Tate Britain museum, London, England • 2012 — What We Have Done, What We Art About To Do — Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Scotland • 2012 — Seduced by Art, Photography Past and Present — London: National Gallery; Barcelona: CaixaForum and Madrid: CaixaForum • 2013 — Two Invisible Case Studies — Maud Sulter, Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé — Malmo Konsthall — Curated by Mother Tongue • 2013 — Looking in: Photographic Portraits by Maud Sulter and Chan-Hyo Bae. — Maud Sulter, Chan-Hyo Bae — Ben Uri Gallery, London, England • 2017 — Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender, and Identity — Maud Sulter, Andy Warhol, Sarah Lucas, Grayson Perry, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Steve McQueen, Derek Jarman, Sunil Gupta, Chila Kumari Burman, Linder, Richard Hamilton, Gillian Wearing, Eric Bainbridge, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Robert Colquhoun, Kate Davis, Jez Dolan, Mario Dubsky, Harry Diamond, Mark Francis, Anya Gallaccio, Colin Hall, Andrea Hamilton, Margaret Harrison, David Hurn, Bob Jardine, Isaac Julien, Karen Knorr, Hilary Lloyd, Robert MacBryde, Zanele Muholi, Catherine Opie, Hadrian Pigott, Charlotte Prodger, Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings, James Richards, Derek Ridgers, David Robilliard, Keith Vaughan, John Walter, Annie Wright, Vanley Burke — Walker Gallery, Liverpool. • 2025 — The 80s: Photographing Britain. — Keith Arnatt, Derek Bishton, Sutapa Biswas, Tessa Boffin, Marc Boothe, Victor Burgin, Vanley Burke, Pogus Caesar, Thomas Joshua Cooper, John Davies, Poulomi Desai, Al-An deSouza, Willie Doherty, Jason Evans, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Anna Fox, Simon Foxton, Armet Francis, Peter Fraser, Melanie Friend, Paul Graham, Ken Grant, Joy Gregory, Sunil Gupta, John Harris, Lyle Ashton Harris, David Hoffman, Brian Homer, Colin Jones, Mumtaz Karimjee, Roshini Kempadoo, Peter Kennard, Chris Killip, Karen Knorr, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Grace Lau, Dave Lewis, Markéta Luskačová, David Mansell, Jenny Matthews, Don McCullin, Roy Mehta, Peter Mitchell, Dennis Morris, Maggie Murray, Tish Murtha; Joanne O'Brien, Zak Ové, Martin Parr, Ingrid Pollard, Brenda Prince, Samena Rana, John Reardon, Paul Reas, Olivier Richon, Suzanne Roden, Franklyn Rodgers, Paul Seawright, Syd Shelton, Jem Southam, Jo Spence, John Sturrock, Maud Sulter, Homer Sykes, Mitra Tabrizian, Wolfgang Tillmans, Paul Trevor, Maxine Walker, Albert Watson, Tom Wood, Ajamu X. — Tate Britain, London, England

* * * * * *

* * • In the section by Deborah Cherry, "The Ghost Begins by Coming Back: Revenants and Returns in Maud Sulter's Photomontages"