Urania from the series Zabat
About this artwork
This photograph is one of a series of nine, entitled 'Zabat'. The word 'Zabat' is given a dictionary definition of 'a sacred dance,' 'an occasion of power' and 'a black women's rite of passage.' The series of photographs derives from the nine muses of mythology, the daughters of memory, and Urania is the muse of astronomy. The intention behind these photographs lies within creation, recreation, discovery, and rediscovery - not so much inventing history and culture as replacing the black woman's presence in a real and symbolic setting, which is deliberately ambiguous; which strains our knowledge. In Maud Sulter's own words: 'Compared to the composition of the Stars a photograph is no big deal. Any fixation of evidence or providence or the like is but nothing compared to the fact that we can take flight through the heavens and visit each other just when we like.'
Updated before 2020
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artist:Maud Sulter (1960 - 2008) Scottish
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title:Urania from the series Zabat
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date created:1989
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materials:Cibachrome print, gilt frame, transfer lettering
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measurements:121.00 x 95.70 cm (framed: 141.50 x 115.80 x 4.50 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:Bequest of the Scottish Arts Council 1997
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accession number:PGP 227.1
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gallery:
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depicted:
Maud Sulter
Maud Sulter
Maud Sulter was born in Glasgow in 1960. She has worked as a writer and poet, as well as being a curator and photographer. Between 1992 and 1994 she was the Principal Lecturer in Fine Art at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Her photographs were usually conceived as a series devoted to a...
