Maud Sulter: The Centre of the Frame
Maud Sulter: The Centre of the Frame, New Hall Art Collection, 2021-22. Photograph by Wilf Speller
A treat of event and a trip to Cambridge! The New Hall Art Collection, at Murray Edwards College in Cambridge is renowned as possibly the strongest holdings by modern and contemporary female British artists. This autumn they opened The Centre of the Frame, an exhibition celebrating Scottish-Ghanaian artist and ‘time-traveller’, Maud Sulter.
The exhibition brings together seven of Sulter’s 1989 Zabat series, featuring portraits of contemporary female artists and creatives dressed as the Greek Muses. To mark the occasion, the Paul Mellon Centre co-convened a panel discussion with curators Harriet Loffler and Naomi Polonksy to discuss Sulter’s career and legacy, which took place on 19 November 2021 in Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.
With help of Naomi, Harriet and PMC Deputy Director, Sarah Victoria Turner, we assembled a panel of speakers.
Gilane Tawadros - Chief Executive of DACS who first wrote about Sulter in 1991
Dionne Sparks - Artist and Teacher who sat for Zabat in the guise of Erato, muse of lyric poetry
Marcia Michael - Artist and PhD student, who considers Sulter kin in her search for heritage and remembrance
Evan Ifekoya - Artist who finds inspiration in Sulter’s work in their own collectively oriented art practice.
Laura Castagnini - Curator and Writer who assisted in the acquisition of Sulter’s Les Bijoux for Tate Britain
After a long day setting up and tinkering with tech, we welcomed c. 70 guests to Buckingham House Conference Centre at Murray Edwards College after an opening viewing of the exhibition. Despite a last-minute PowerPoint adjustment, we started at 16.05 with only minor delay and simultaneously streamed to Facebook and YouTube for our digital guests.
Sarah and Naomi kicked off the evening with a few shorts words before passing over to Gilane, who welcomed each of the speakers in turn to reflect on Sulter’s impact and legacy before a short Q&A. Once the panel finished and all the streams were safely disconnected (and double checked), the gathered audience made their way to the ‘after-party’.
We were honoured to be hosted by Kettle’s Yard for a reception and a viewing of Sutapa Biswas’s Lumen, in the presence of the artist, who was herself a friend and contemporary of Sulter’s - which seems very fitting.
Personally, this was a particularly exciting event, because it was the Centres first shot at a hybrid event model since lockdown and my first event off-site. It was also entirely nerve-wracking but luckily, I had the support of Liam Martin and Tim Cooper managing the in-room and online tech, to whom I’m eternally grateful. Thanks also to Naomi and Harriet at Murray Edwards for instigating such an engaging and important conversation and to all the PMC team for their support, particularly the leadership of Sarah Turner. Cheers also to Daniela Rossi and Andrew Nairne for hosting us at Kettle’s Yard (and to Daniela for bringing me for drinks afterwards!). Most importantly, thank you to our wonderful panel of speakers for taking the time to come to Cambridge and bring Maud’s legacy into the light and to Sutapa for her gorgeous exhibition and reflections to our guests.