#Still Seeing Things June 2020: Maud Sulter & Sheila Hicks

At GWL, we have a group called Seeing Things. The Seeing Things group get together to explore cultural events across Glasgow, such as (but not limited to!) art, music, theatre or comedy. Since the start of 2014, the group has visited exhibitions, art and performance events in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Since April 2020 we have taken Seeing Things online and despite the fact we’re staying at home we’re #StillSeeingThings and showcasing the work of women creatives from around the world.

Every other Wednesday afternoon at 12.30pm a GWL Volunteer takes over @womenslibrary Twitter (and sometimes Instagram!) to guide a virtual visit to an online exhibition or museum archive. No prior knowledge or interest is necessary and all are welcome to ask questions and share thoughts.

As it’s easy to miss things that happen on Twitter we’re gathering together the resources from each ‘trip’ so you can catch up in your own time… here’s what we saw in June!

Mattie and Mairi introduced us to Maud Sulter’s beautiful artworks

Hello it’s Mattie, taking over GWL Twitter while Mairi is over on GWL Instagram. We’re both here for #StillSeeingThings and this week we’re taking a look at the life and work of the incredible Maud Sulter (1/20)

Image: Maud Sulter, Self-Portrait, 2002. © Estate of Maud Sulter pic.twitter.com/GZQH0ik5Wi

— Glasgow Women's Library (@womenslibrary) June 10, 2020

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Noir et Blanc: Deux (Black and White: Two), 1993. Original photomontages, 15.1 x 19.3 cm. From the series Syrcas, 1993. Courtesy of The Maud Sulter Estate. © The Maud Sulter Estate. In Noir et Blanc, from the series Syrcas, using photomontage a set of four postcard-perfect images of Alpine landscapes – lakes, mountains, forests, chalets – are overlaid with African masks and fertility dolls, in the foreground. Syrcas combines large-scale constructed images with classical painting, technicolour post-card landscape photography, sculpture and black-and-white cut-outs of African masks and icons – to present Sulter's overall picture of the African presence in European history and culture. The words of Maud Sulter’s 1994 poem Blood Money accompanied her photomontage series Syrcas (1993). Recited on repeat in a lilting Scottish voice, the poem tells the story of Monique, “a woman of African and European descent”, who left Cameroon for France in 1926, at the age of 12. Loosely based around the concept of a circus, it was called 'Syrcas' for the Welsh-speaking gallery for which it was commissioned. Maud Sulter devoted her career (which spanned art, poetry, curating and publishing) to restoring black women to the centre of the frame, “both literally within the photographic image, but also within the cultural institutions where our work operates”. #StillSeeingThings #BlackLivesMatter #MaudSulter

A post shared by Glasgow Women's Library (@womenslibrary) on Jun 10, 2020 at 6:39am PDT

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Clio, Zabat series (portrait of poet Dorothea Smartt). The model is the poet Dorothea Smartt, here represented as Clio, the muse of heroic poetry and history. In an epigraph to a text on Clio, Sulter quotes Alice Walker: “As a black person and a woman I don’t read history for facts, I read it for clues”. The word Zabat describes an ancient ritual dance performed by women on occasions of power, the use of it signifies Maud Sulter's call for a repositioning of black women in the history of photography. #StillSeeingThings #BlackLivesMatter #MaudSulter

A post shared by Glasgow Women's Library (@womenslibrary) on Jun 10, 2020 at 5:43am PDT

Louise took us on a tour of MOMA and the work of Sheila Hicks

Hi everyone, Louise here! I'm going to be taking over the GWL account for the next hour, for today's #StillSeeingThings.

Our focus today is going to be on the artist Sheila Hicks.

— Glasgow Women's Library (@womenslibrary) June 17, 2020

If you have any trouble reading Twitter threads, here are the links to each of the threads I have posted and you can copy and paste them into the Thread Reader App and that should help to make their content clearer:

10th June: Mattie and Mairi, Maud Sulter https://twitter.com/womenslibrary/status/1270679723983679488

17th June: Louise, Sheila Hicks, MOMA https://twitter.com/womenslibrary/status/1273216830111387649