A panel conversation in Cambridge on the occasion of Maud Sulter: The Centre of the Frame, an exhibition from the New Hall Art Collection.

Organised to coincide with the exhibition Maud Sulter: The Centre of the Frame at the New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, this panel focuses on the life, work and legacy of Scottish-Ghanaian artist, Maud Sulter (1960–2008). Featuring curators, researchers and artists, the discussion will explore the multi-disciplinary nature of Sulter’s practice which crossed different mediums but was rooted in questioning the representation of Black women in art and literature. The panel accompanies Maud Sulter: The Centre of the Frame, which brings together Sulter’s iconic photographic series Zabat (1989). The series, which the artist called a ‘diasporan family portrait’, features photographs of contemporary Black female figures dressed as the Greek muses. The panel will include reflections on Sulter’s process of creating Zabat, her interest in the history of photography and portraiture, and her challenging of the role of model and muse. It will explore her network of female collaborators and life-long passion for supporting Black women, as well as her self-identity as a Black lesbian woman. Taking an expanded view of her practice, it will consider the importance of drama, sound and performance in her work and exhibitions and the way in which she collaborated with practitioners in different creative fields.

This event will be live-streamed. Select a digital-only streaming ticket to receive the live-streaming link.
Panel

Gilane Tawadros (Chair) Chief Executive of DACS
Laura Castagnini Curator and Writer
Dionne Sparks Artist, Teacher and Zabat sitter
Marcia Michael Artist and PhD student
Evan Ifekoya Artist and member of Black Obsidian Sound System (B.O.S.S.)

Schedule

15.00-16.00 Time to look around Maud Sulter: The Centre of the Frame

16.00-17.30 Panel discussion

18.00-19.00 Curator-led tour of Sutapa Biswas: Lumen at Kettle’s Yard and drinks reception
A little more about our speakers

Gilane Tawadros met Maud Sulter in the early 1990s. One of her earliest pieces of writing was a review of Maud Sulter’s solo exhibition Hysteria which began its tour at Tate Gallery, Liverpool in August 1991.

Laura Castagnini has admired Sulter’s work since she was introduced to it many years ago by artists of her own generation (including Evan). As a curator she worked on Tate’s first acquisition of Sulter’s work, the major series Les Bijoux (2002), which entered the collection last year. She is particularly interested in the potential of reading Sulter’s practice through a queer lens; she presented a paper on this topic at QBAxBBA: A joint event by the British Art Network’s Queer British Art Network and the Black British Art Network, in December 2020.

Evan Ifekoya finds great refuge in the breadth of practice that Maud Sulter has left behind. In particular, the ‘saphie’, a token of remembrance the viewer leaves with after viewing an artwork, has been an inspiration for their own investigations into a collectively oriented art practice.

Marcia Michael says of Sulter: As kin who returned to search for their heritage in these places of remembrance, who also searched same landscapes of our foremothers for words and memories that keep on returning, like Maud as one who returned to search, I am reminded through her poetry that history repeats and words often do. Speaking Maud’s words and mine

Dionne Sparks met Maud Sulter while studying on the BA Fine Art at John Moores University in the late 1980s. Sulter was a great champion of black women artists and invited Dionne to show work in exhibitions such as Passion: Contemporary Black Women’s Creativity of the African Diaspora. They also worked together for a short time as part of the Feminists Arts News collective. Following her graduation Maud invited Dionne to model for Zabat, in which she is represented as Erato, the muse of lyric poetry. Dionne gained an insight in Maud’s practice as she also assisted her during the making of Zabat.