Guerrilla Girls

A group of activists and artists from New York called Guerilla Girls, the members of the group like to remain anonymous by wearing Gorilla masks. The Guerrilla Girls are feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman. They regularly inject feminist themes and examine the lack of female representation in the art world throughout history. The group, which has been around since the 1980s want to highlight the work of women and people of colour in the art world.

1989 Screen print on matt paper (40 x 90 cm) Appropriated the visual language of advertising, specifically fly- posting, to convey their messages in a quick and accessible manner. Combining bold block text with lists and statistics that were compiled by the Girls themselves or reinterpreted from existing sources such as art magazines and museum reports. Reclining nude figure whose nude back and hips symbolize idealized female beauty. Instead of a beautiful and classic profile, however, the figure has been masked with the Guerrilla Girls' hallmark of a large, shaggy gorilla's head. They undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair.

“Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.”

Surveying the works on display in the museum's nineteenth- and twentieth-century galleries, they tallied the number of female nudes versus the number of male nudes and counted the number of works by female artists versus the number by male artists. Their findings were startling: not even 5 percent of the artists represented in the modern galleries were women, while fully 85 percent of the nudes in those same galleries were female.

The poster, created for The Public Art Fund of New York, commented that while there was a lack of women artist represented in U.S. museums, the amount of artwork in the museums that depicted nude women was almost double that of those piece depicting nude men. Use of facts they use in combination with, humour and outrageous visuals to expose discrimination and corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture. Use humour to address female issues. This piece demands an explanation for female inequality on the walls of museums, furthermore pointing to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Have a need to examine deeper and question the ways women are portrayed in everyday culture. There is a rising need to hear more women’s voices and points of view which sometimes get ignored in broad topics, but get plenty of attention when it is a specific women’s issue. Twist an issue around, present it differently with an outrageous headline, a great visual and back it up with facts. Humour really helps us get into people's brains and lets them see things another way and maybe, just maybe, change their minds.

A quote from Activity in The Guerrilla Girls’ Updated Art Museum Activity Book: “In 2011, we did our latest recount. We were sure things had improved, but surprise! Only 4% of the artists in the Modern and Contemporary sections were women, but 76% of the nudes were female. Fewer women artists, more naked males. Is this progress? Guess we can’t put our masks away yet.”