Maud Sulter (1960–2008) was an award-winning artist and writer, curator and gallerist of Ghanain and Scottish heritage who lived and worked in Britain.
About Face is an exhibition of 10 large format Polaroid portraits by Maud Sulter, originally commissioned by the Scottish Poetry Library in 2002. It is a fabulous capsule collection of significant Scottish poets at the beginning of the new century.
This exhibition sees this work of historical significance resurface for the first time since being shown in venues in 2003/2004. It is part of a major reappraisal of the artists work and runs alongside the monographic exhibition ‘Passion’ at Street Level. Writing of the work at that time, Robyn Marsack wrote:
‘Polaroid portraits are often a bit blurred because they’ve been taken in a hurry for an instant record. Their magic lies in seeing the image taking shape on the shiny paper, patch by patch. Maud Sulter’s polaroids measure 20” by 24” and were taken on a unique machine brought over from Prague in the summer of 2002. Working in Edinburgh, Maud had just the one shot at composing her portraits, like any other Polaroid photographer, and the resulting sharp image swam to the large surface in the same surprising way.’
The portraits will be shown alongside careful and playful comments from the sitters at the time who recommended some poem-portraits for viewers to read.
Hillhead Library
348 Byres Road
Glasgow
G12 8AP
0141 276 1617
