{"id":82,"date":"2019-05-09T13:06:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T13:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/chapter\/guerilla-girls\/"},"modified":"2023-06-07T15:24:50","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T15:24:50","slug":"guerilla-girls","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/chapter\/guerilla-girls\/","title":{"raw":"Guerilla Girls","rendered":"Guerilla Girls"},"content":{"raw":"\u201cReinventing the \u201cF\u201d word: Feminism!\u201d<\/em>\n\n- Guerilla Girls Motto\n\nThe Guerilla Girls are an activist group started in the 1980\u2019s that focused on feminism and inequality and bringing female artists into the light. Their objective is to make a change in the art world and its corrupt ideas.\n\nTheir most famous pieces aren\u2019t exactly what you\u2019d call art, but that\u2019s the whole point. They want their voices to be heard and the current issues of sexism and racism to be prominently displayed for the world to see. They stay anonymous to not have the focus be on them per se, but on the points they are trying to get across. Their propaganda addresses things like: \u201cDefinition of a Hypocrite\u201d, \u201cWhat to Expect When You\u2019re Raped on Campus\u201d, and \u201cHow Many Women Had One-Person Exhibitions Last Year?\u201d. Their whole idea is that they have to say something outlandish, and sometimes humorous, to get people\u2019s attention. My personal favorites are \u201cWhen Racism and Sexism Are No Longer Fashionable, What Will Your Art Collection Be Worth?\u201d and \u201cDo Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?\u201d, because it\u2019s something that most people don\u2019t think about right away when thinking of certain artists or collections.\n\nThe Guerrilla Girls prerogative has made many changes in the art world since they were established. Remaining anonymous by wearing gorilla masks and taking on the names of past famous female artists (Frida Kahlo, etc.) has set aside their own identities for a greater cause. Although they may be focused on feminism, they just wish to make the world equal for everyone, in art and otherwise. Aside from posters and billboards they have organized countless exhibitions and have participated in some other actions going towards the cause. In 1987 they critiqued artists exhibitions at the Whitney Museum in New York, and in 2011 they critiqued a show in Chicago, called \u201cGuerrilla Girls to Museums: Time for Gender Reassignment\u201d, where they pointed out the lack of gender difference in collections of contemporary art.\n\nI admire the Guerilla Girls and the tactics they use to present the crooked perspective of society. This idea of using art to start movements became extremely popular in the 1960s and evolved into a distinct genre of art. The success of the Guerilla Girls has made it possible for so many artists, women and otherwise, have the ability to make important art and actually show it in public museums. They make have more work to do but everything they\u2019ve done has made such an incredible difference in the world; their accomplishments are inspiring.\n\nAn excerpt from their artists statement:\n\n\u201cThe Guerilla Girls are feminist activist artists. We wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor, and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture. Our anonymity keeps the focus on the issues, and away from who we might be; we could be anyone and we are everywhere. We believe in an intersection feminism that fights discrimination and supports human rights for all people and all genders\u2026What\u2019s next: More creative complaining!! More interventions!! More resistance!!\u201d<\/em>\n\nWorks Cited:\n\n\u201cGuerrilla Girls.\u201d Guerrilla Girls, Guerrilla Girls, Inc., www.guerrillagirls.com\/.\n\nTate. \u201cWho Are the Guerrilla Girls? \u2013 Who Are They?\u201d Tate Kids, Tate,\nwww.tate.org.uk\/kids\/explore\/who-is\/who-are-guerrilla-girls.\n\n\u201cNational Museum of Women in the Arts.\u201d Guerrilla Girls | National Museum of Women in the Arts, 2011, nmwa.org\/explore\/artist-profiles\/guerrilla-girls.","rendered":"

\u201cReinventing the \u201cF\u201d word: Feminism!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

– Guerilla Girls Motto<\/p>\n

The Guerilla Girls are an activist group started in the 1980\u2019s that focused on feminism and inequality and bringing female artists into the light. Their objective is to make a change in the art world and its corrupt ideas.<\/p>\n

Their most famous pieces aren\u2019t exactly what you\u2019d call art, but that\u2019s the whole point. They want their voices to be heard and the current issues of sexism and racism to be prominently displayed for the world to see. They stay anonymous to not have the focus be on them per se, but on the points they are trying to get across. Their propaganda addresses things like: \u201cDefinition of a Hypocrite\u201d, \u201cWhat to Expect When You\u2019re Raped on Campus\u201d, and \u201cHow Many Women Had One-Person Exhibitions Last Year?\u201d. Their whole idea is that they have to say something outlandish, and sometimes humorous, to get people\u2019s attention. My personal favorites are \u201cWhen Racism and Sexism Are No Longer Fashionable, What Will Your Art Collection Be Worth?\u201d and \u201cDo Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?\u201d, because it\u2019s something that most people don\u2019t think about right away when thinking of certain artists or collections.<\/p>\n

The Guerrilla Girls prerogative has made many changes in the art world since they were established. Remaining anonymous by wearing gorilla masks and taking on the names of past famous female artists (Frida Kahlo, etc.) has set aside their own identities for a greater cause. Although they may be focused on feminism, they just wish to make the world equal for everyone, in art and otherwise. Aside from posters and billboards they have organized countless exhibitions and have participated in some other actions going towards the cause. In 1987 they critiqued artists exhibitions at the Whitney Museum in New York, and in 2011 they critiqued a show in Chicago, called \u201cGuerrilla Girls to Museums: Time for Gender Reassignment\u201d, where they pointed out the lack of gender difference in collections of contemporary art.<\/p>\n

I admire the Guerilla Girls and the tactics they use to present the crooked perspective of society. This idea of using art to start movements became extremely popular in the 1960s and evolved into a distinct genre of art. The success of the Guerilla Girls has made it possible for so many artists, women and otherwise, have the ability to make important art and actually show it in public museums. They make have more work to do but everything they\u2019ve done has made such an incredible difference in the world; their accomplishments are inspiring.<\/p>\n

An excerpt from their artists statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guerilla Girls are feminist activist artists. We wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor, and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture. Our anonymity keeps the focus on the issues, and away from who we might be; we could be anyone and we are everywhere. We believe in an intersection feminism that fights discrimination and supports human rights for all people and all genders\u2026What\u2019s next: More creative complaining!! More interventions!! More resistance!!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Works Cited:<\/p>\n

\u201cGuerrilla Girls.\u201d Guerrilla Girls, Guerrilla Girls, Inc., www.guerrillagirls.com\/.<\/p>\n

Tate. \u201cWho Are the Guerrilla Girls? \u2013 Who Are They?\u201d Tate Kids, Tate,
\nwww.tate.org.uk\/kids\/explore\/who-is\/who-are-guerrilla-girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cNational Museum of Women in the Arts.\u201d Guerrilla Girls | National Museum of Women in the Arts, 2011, nmwa.org\/explore\/artist-profiles\/guerrilla-girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"menu_order":13,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-82","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":77,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82\/revisions\/83"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/77"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.usnh.edu\/openingcontemporaryart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}