Cheryl Marie Wade at the Palais de Tokyo: An immersive experience into crip culture and activist poetry

The Palais de Tokyo is hosting a groundbreaking group exhibition centered on the poetry of Cheryl Marie Wade, a prominent figure in Berkeley’s crip art scene, from April 3 to September 13, 2026. Featuring archival footage, performances, and installations, the show aims to breathe new life into a marginalized artistic voice that bridges poetry, activism, and the remembrance of disability.

Cheryl Marie Wade, a remark-crip-able voice, springs back to life at the Palais de Tokyo! The Parisian museum invites visitors to explore a group exhibition centered around the work of the renowned poetess, a key figure in the crip scene of Berkeley. Running from April 3 to September 13, 2026, it weaves together archival footage, performances, and contemporary installations in an innovative immersive experience.

Drawing on documentary footage that remained largely unused for over twenty years, this exhibition offers a fresh look at the literary and performative world of Cheryl Marie Wade, a disabled artist from California who remains relatively unknown to the French public today. The project originated from footage shot in 2000 by Diane Maroger, a filmmaker and activist, initially intended for broadcast on France 3.

Since the program was never realized, the documentary collection gathered in Berkeley around the early 2000s now forms the core of this exhibition. It weaves together these visual archives with a curated selection of contemporary works that explore themes of disability, care, and committed poetry.

An Artistic Exploration of Crip Culture

Through a series of videos, texts, installations, and readings, the exhibition aims to position disability as a lived experience within the artistic space. The poems of Cheryl Marie Wade, initially shared in women’s support groups and later performed publicly through one-woman shows or distributed on VHS, explore themes such as sexuality, physical pain, vulnerability, and bodily memory. Known as The Queen-Mother of Gnarly, Wade championed the use of the term "crip"—a reclaimed version of the pejorative "cripple"—as a tool for reclaiming identity within a burgeoning activist community that emerged in Berkeley during the 1980s.

The Palais de Tokyo offers a broad exploration of this contemporary art scene by bringing together artists who, directly or symbolically, engage with issues raised by the American crip community. Archival footage is integrated into the exhibition space as a series of narrative fragments, each representing an effort to build a collective story about disability—one born from the voices and experiences of the very individuals at the heart of the conversation.

A Memory Restored for Sight and Sound

Few works by Cheryl Marie Wade have been published or translated into French to date. Her archives, held at Berkeley University, remain largely untapped. This lack of dissemination stands in stark contrast to the significant influence her writings and performances have had on the early development of Disability Studies in the United States. The exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo builds on this editorial gap by creating a space for listening, reading, and reflection—linking it to current debates surrounding care, mental health, and new forms of self-representation.

Alongside the exhibition, a poetry and performance festival dedicated to the French-speaking crip scene will take place at the Palais de Tokyo. This performative segment will give audiences the chance to engage with artists who explore, in their own unique ways, how disability can serve as a powerful force for artistic expression, social critique, or reshaping aesthetic standards.

A Project Open to Multiple Interpretations

The work of Diane Maroger, conducted over several years in Berkeley, provides a fresh perspective on how marginalized experiences are conveyed within cultural institutions. The filmed footage, collected poems, and recorded testimonies create a layered landscape where personal history, activism, and artistic expression intertwine. These elements interact with the contemporary pieces on display, weaving a complex tapestry of visual and discursive echoes.

By combining unpublished archival materials, works by contemporary artists, and a dynamic programming schedule, the Palais de Tokyo crafts a space where knowledge and stories intersect. It tackles themes—artistic, social, and political—that are still rarely addressed in exhibitions across France. This collective effort opens new avenues for research and storytelling, shedding light on the vibrant culture of crip art and the creative expressions emerging from it, hinting at future explorations in this field.

This page may contain AI-assisted elements, more information here.