ABOUT THE GUERRILLA GIRLS
In 1985, the Guerrilla Girls became a group of anonymous women who showed sexism, racism and the politics' corruption through posters, magazine, exhibitions, and art. These women travel all over the world, showing people that there are women who are making a difference in this world. When conducting their presentations, they take the names of dead female artists in order to keep their identity secure, but most importantly, to show people that those women artists have talents and have done something positive. The Guerrilla Girls wear a mask to emphasize the things that are really going on, other than the person they really are. The Guerrilla Girls show the sexism and racism around the world through humorous facts and visuals such as pieces of art. They also like to dress themselves up like society expects a women to dress as a form of irony. This demonstrates their rebellious side.
GOALS&ACHIEVEMENTS
The dedication and determination that the Guerilla Girls have has been seen and heard. They are undeniably passionate about bringing equality for women artists and artists of color. They incorporate creative entertainment and educational performance works that drive their points home while showing that feminists are funny, not just serious. " We try to develop pieces that use smart humor to make people laugh first and think soon after. While listening to the audiences that come out of the theatre after our shows we often hear them say ‘I didn’t know that!’ and that makes us feel that we are accomplishing our goals" (Guerrilla Girls, par. 3).
The first work of the Guerrilla Girls was putting up posters on the streets of New York city depicting the gender and racial inequality of artists in galleries and museums. They didn’t stop there, throughout the years they have spread their activism to encourage people to take a closer look at the film industry, popular culture, gender stereotyping and corruption in the art world.
According the Guerrilla Girls there is a decent representation of women and artists of color in the art world currently. They must be thanked for their help in effecting the change for these women and artists of color. However their work is not done because they feel that as long as art is expensive and can be owned by individual collectors, art will represent the values those people have and not the larger art audience or the culture at large. The Guerilla Girls continue to disapprove and scold the art world for it’s lack of ethics and other bad behavior.
The Guerilla Girls are probably best known for their famous poster which was on several New York city busses; which read "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?"(Wikipedia, par.4). This poster was created because the Guerilla Girls saw a disturbing amount of nude females in the Met’s modern art section, 85% in fact and they found it strange that less than 5% of the artists in that section were females. This poster has been reproduced in several textbooks in many different subjects. The Guerilla Girls have become a model for feminist activist and has become part of womens studies and gender studies curriculums all over the world. Museums that were once under the attack of the Guerilla Girls for discrimination have their posters in their collections. Their posters have been preserved in archives of several different libraries. Their art history book has sold tens of thousands of copies and is used as textbooks in colleges all over the world.
The Guerilla Girls have published several books. Some of those books include, The Guerrilla Girls Art Museum Activity Book, Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art and Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls Guide to Female Stereotypes. The Guerrilla Girls Art Museum Activity Book is a comic-book style call to action. They came up with seven activities designed to encourage readers to fight discrimination, unethical behavior and conflicts of interest in museums everywhere.In The Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art book they wanted to tell the stories of past and present women artists who have been forgotten and ignored. Another goal of this book was to make it the first humorous art history book meant to make readers laugh not fall asleep. Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls Guide to Female Stereotypes is a book that examines sexual slurs and digs into the lives of real and fictional women who have become stereotypes throughout the years.
There seems to be no stopping the Guerilla Girls. There is no doubt that they have impacted many lives and continue to do so. They are advocates for equality and they do so with class and humor. They have opened many eyes and called for justice. They see it as their responsibility to claw open closed eyes and closed minds. Although they have made many achievements their work is never done. Their will always be another opportunity to publish a book, make a billboard or go on tour to educate people on their history and their mission. Their next step? A body image campaign and an attack of the music industry.
WEBSITE
The guerilla girls have come quite a long way since they first began re-inventing the “f†word. Since their start in the mid 1980s, the guerilla girls have sought new ways to reveal the truth to anyone willing to listen. Their way of grabbing peoples attention in the 21st century is through their website, www.guerillagirls.com. The website was started by two founding guerilla girl members. They were looking for a way to communicate to the modern world, and what easier way than establishing a website?
The website offers many different resources; ways to contact the guerilla girls, a chronology of their work, pictures of their posters, the hot flashes newsletter, an interview with the guerilla girls, tour dates and appearances, and their most recent work.
Contacting the guerilla girls may seem like an endless attempt of unanswered e-mail, but in reality the guerilla girls reply to all e-mails quite prompltly, within a day or two they usually have a response. On two different occasions our group contacted the guerilla girls, one to sign up for their mailing list, and the other to ask if they could come to San Jose State. Both e-mails were replied to, but unfortunately it costs more to book the guerilla girls, than to attend a semester at SJSU.
Fortunately we can still use the website at no cost. All of their work can be accessed through their website. They offer a list of the books they have published, and a detailed history of their work beginning from 1985-until present. They also share some of the posters and projects they have produced. Each poster or project has an explanation as to what they were trying to accomplish.
Although their posters are one of the main reasons to Google the guerilla girls, we can not forget about their enticing newsletter; “Hot Flashes.†Which, is also available on their website at no extra cost. “Hot Flashes†has all the new dish on what the guerilla girls have been unmasking.
The guerilla girls website is a fun way to get informed and take a stand and its easy to use. But, don’t get confused with guerillagirlsbroadband.com or guerillagirlsontour.com. These two websites are not the official guerillagirls.com. Although, the other two websites were started by former members, they are not the official website.
*****Looking to book an appearance? Contact the guerilla girls at [email protected] Want to check them out or buy some of their stuff go to, www.guerillagirls.com. ******WHATS GOING ON NOW
Touring around the world, the guerrilla girls keep themselves busy by spreading their stance on feminism. Recently, the Guerrilla Girls have been in California speaking at the Mill Valley Film Festival in San Rafael and at the San Francisco Art Institute. However, the Girls are holding exhibitions here in California, but that does not mean there will be a performance. Their current one is an exhibition at California State Los Angeles titled, “The Graphic Imperative,†(www.guerrillagirls.com). In addition to these appearances and exhibitions, they also allow fans to book appearances with them, which is pretty awesome.The Guerrilla Girls are also authors of plenty of books. Their latest book is called Bitches, and Bimbos Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes. The book is filled with corky photos that illustrate their ideas of feminism and current stereotypes women face. Additionally, it focuses on clichés women face such as: “the trophy wife, the gold-digger…†(www.guerrillagirls.com). Their book is quite different from their typical views on feminism. Habitually, the Girls’ attention is primarily on women in art. Most of their work criticizes the media (film, magazines, and modern art) for their lack of women in the fields; therefore their latest book gives readers and fans a different perspective of the Guerrilla Girls.
