Deborah Cherry

Deborah Cherry contributed a text (on Zabat) to the catalogue for Jeanne Duval | A Melodrama, a major exhibition,  an innovative investigation into (art) history, by Maud Sulter, held at National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 30 May - 31 August, 2003.

The central aspect of the exhibition consisted of self-portraits of the artist, in the guise of Jeanne Duval. From the back cover of the catalogue: “Maud Sulter, the Scots-Ghanaian cultural historian, photographer, and poet explores the legacy of Jeanne Duval, who was the intimate companion and Black muse of the French poet, Charles Baudelaire, and the inspiration for some of his greatest verses… In new works, La Chevalure and Les Bijoux, Sulter returns to the theme of self-portrayal in the guise of Jeanne Duval.”

In her text, Cherry wrote “Like many contemporary women artists, Maud Sulter has deployed herself as a model. In Zabat of 1989 she appears as Calliope, the centrepiece of an installation of none Cibrachrome images, each depicting one of the Muses. Conventionally imaged in the history of Western art as white women, they are here portrayed by Black women writers, artists, musicians and strategists.”

»  Maud Sulter | Jeanne Duval: A Melodrama

Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2003