The Guerrilla Girls
Discrimination within the art world on the basis of gender and race has been long standing, and so has the fight to put an end to it. Numerous individuals and organisations have been contributing towards the establishment of equality. Today, we’re looking into a group that shook the high walls keeping women out of artistic conversations, and exposed the prejudice running deep within the community.
Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community.
The group carries out their activism by use of posters, books, billboards, staging surprise exhibitions and public appearances to expose discrimination and corruption. These ‘guerrilla’ tactics are the basis for their name. Satire is often employed by them in order to make serious messages engaging. Their work isn’t limited to the US but extends all over the world.
One of their key principles is anonymity which is achieved by members wearing gorilla masks and using pseudonyms that refer to deceased female artists such as Frida Kahlo, Kathe Kollwitz, and Alice Neel. According to GG1, this is done because issues matter more than individual identities, "Mainly, we wanted the focus to be on the issues, not on our personalities or our own work."
Before getting into details, let’s talk a little about the history of neglect towards female artists.
During the height of the contemporary art movement in the 20th century, there was a lack of representation of female artists and curators in well-known art galleries.
What could be the cause of such an occurrence you may ask?
The same setting seen in places of influence to this day. These galleries were often privately funded by elites, predominately white males.
What this means is that the museums meant for celebrating art and making it accessible to all individuals were reduced to mere power structures for demonstrating influence and status. An important thing to note is that art depicting the female form was abundantly found on the walls of these museums.
Ironic, isn’t it? The female form is the most sought after by artists as well as garners the most appreciation in galleries, but the participation of that very feminine presence in actuality in the art world is discouraged.
So, how did Guerrilla Girls come into being?
The long standing discrimination was the gasoline that drove the group’s purpose but the one last blow that finally tipped them over and lead to their creation was the incident that took place in 1985 regarding the Museum of Modern Arts Exhibition- “An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture”.
The roster for the exhibition held 165 artists, out of which only 13 were women. This exhibition claimed to survey that era's most important painters and sculptors from 17 countries. The proportion of artists of color was even smaller, and none of them were women.
It’s a bit of a stretch to claim that the exhibition displayed some of the era’s greatest works when a majority of the work wasn’t even considered due to exclusion on the basis of gender and race.
The show's curator, Kynaston McShine, gave interviews saying that any artist who wasn't in the show should rethink his career. In reaction to the exhibition and McShine's statement, the group protested in front of museum. Thus, the Guerrilla Girls were born.
During its first years, the Guerrilla Girls conducted "weenie counts"- members visited institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and counted artworks' male-to-female subject ratios. Data gathered showed that women artists had produced less than 5% of the works, whereas 85% of the nudes were female.
How did they get their name, and what’s the story behind their masks?
Their statement- "We were Guerrillas before we were Gorillas. From the beginning, the press wanted publicity photos. We needed a disguise. No one remembers, for sure, how we got our fur, but one story is that at an early meeting, an original girl, a bad speller, wrote 'Gorilla' instead of 'Guerrilla.' It was an enlightened mistake. It gave us our 'mask-ulinity.'"
In an interview with New York Times the Guerrilla Girls were quoted, "Anonymous free speech is protected by the Constitution. You'd be surprised what comes out of your mouth when you wear a mask."
The group’s agenda has included sexism and racism in films, mass and popular culture, politics, and tokenism.
Are they still around?
Yes, very much so! After 3 decades, the Guerrilla Girls are still an intact organization breaking barriers and bringing awareness to sexism and racism unfortunately prevalent in the art world to this day.
Their work has contributed to the relative increase in opportunities for women in art. But since we are yet to achieve complete equality, they continue to remain passionate towards their cause. The Guerrilla Girls are steadfast and deeply aligned with their purpose inspiring others to follow along and walk towards change.
Follow their work on instagram- @GuerrillaGirls
Blog and Podcast Manager