This photograph is from a series of portraits of creative black women by Maud Sulter, who is herself of Ghanaian and Scottish parentage. The series is called 'Zabat' and shows each woman as one of the nine Greek muses. The model here, Abiola Agana, is represented as Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, often depicted holding a knife or club in one hand and the tragic mask in the other.

Maud Sulter produced the Zabat series for Rochdale Art Gallery in 1989, the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography. It was a direct response to the lack of a black presence at other celebratory events and exhibitions. Here we see the conventions of Victorian portrait photography under the command of a black woman photographer. The backdrop, props and pose are all retained but the image is transformed with African clothes, non-European objects and, most importantly, by the resolute black woman at its centre.

The title 'Zabat' also signifies Maud Sulter's call for a repositioning of black women in the history of photography: the word describes an ancient ritual dance performed by women on occasions of power.