Of 7 march to 7 April 2026
Bistro Poet,
34 rue Tonduti de l’Escarène, 06000 Nice
The Poets : Committed Women
As a woman and an artist, I wanted to pay homage to these timeless figures, pioneers who defied conventions, up to the contemporaries who continue to transform our societies through their words. Let them sing of love, denounce injustice or celebrate life, they remind us that words have the power to change the world.
Through this exhibition, I invite you to discover works where commitment meets poetry, where feminine sensitivity combines with a universal force. Let's enter their world, let us listen to their whisper and their cry, and let us be inspired by their courage and their light.
Activist poets
The exhibition pays tribute to committed women poets whose words carry the struggles, human hopes and dreams. Their writings are presented as rich interior spaces, where art becomes both a weapon, refuge and means of revolt.
The artist explains his approach : as a woman, she wishes to celebrate these figures – from pioneers to contemporaries – who shake up norms and transform society through words. Let them talk about love, denounce injustice or celebrate life, their words have transformative power.
The public is invited to enter these poetic universes where commitment and sensitivity come together, to listen to these voices and be inspired by their courage.
Rouge, color of living speech
Red symbolizes vital energy : and high, the life, but also hurt and anger.
The works (tulle collages, Posca drawings) translate this intensity through shapes evoking veins, volcanoes or escape routes.
Each creation seeks to open a listening space for these female voices.
“I don’t write to be wise ; I write to keep the world awake. »
— Adrienne Rich
Pioneers : to write, draw, resist
Silva Usta continues her Pioneer series, with new perspectives, new lines.
Through his very graphic black felt-tip portraits, enhanced with red tulle, the visual artist – of Armenian origin and born in Istanbul – gives visibility to those who campaign for civil and human rights.
After presenting her Pioneers of the Promenade des Anglais in Nice to the main Library of Courbevoie, she extends this series with close-up portraits of female writers, poets and artists.
“I wanted to pay tribute to those who have defied conventions throughout history, and those who still today, defend at the risk of their lives, free speech », recalls the artist, who lives and works in Nice.
What do their origins matter?, These women have in common that they fight their battle through action but also through language..
Adrienne Rich, Zabel Essayan, Rupi Kaur, Assata Shakur… have you ever seen their faces ? read their works ?
Between original drawings, prints on Rhodoid or canvas, they invest the Poet Bistrot in Nice with their presence.
“I am not free while any other woman is deprived of her freedom, even if his channels are very different from mine”, wrote Audre Geraldine Lorde, who defined herself as “black, lesbian, feminist, mother, warrior and poetess ».
Among these Pioneers, we also meet Pinar Selek, antimilitarist sociologist, victim of repression in Türkiye and exiled in France. “They think they’re tiring me out, but they won’t be able to put out the fireflies”, writes the author, whose work The Turkish Cauldron describes the stages of the construction of male hegemonic domination.
War is not just about weapons, it is also determined on the ground of representations, imaginations.
Like the words of these Pioneers, Silva Usta chose to make the image a counter-power, sensible.
Tanja STOJANOV
