In 1985, a bunch of female artists, incensed by an exhibition at the Museum
of Modern Art that included 165 artists but only 17 women, founded the Guerrilla
Girls. Dubbing ourselves “The Conscience of the Artworld,” we started making
posters that bluntly stated the facts of discrimination and used humor to
convey information, provoke discussion and to show that feminists can be funny.
We assumed the names of dead women artists, and began wearing gorilla masks
when we appeared in public, concealing our true identities and focusing on
the issues rather than on our personalities.
In the years that followed, we produced over 90 posters, actions, billboards,
postcards, books, and magazine projects, examining discrimination in art,
culture and politics. Posters which once appeared on the walls of SoHo in
the dead of night now appear on the Internet, in museums and in books. We
have traveled the world over, daring to speak out against injustice wherever
it lurks.
Thousands of our supporters own copies of our work, as do institutions such
as the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern
Art, and The Getty. We have been the subject of countless articles in newspapers
and magazines here and abroad including The New Yorker, Ms. Magazine, Vogue,
Esquire, and The New York Times. We have been featured on PBS, CBS, CNN and
many international TV & radio stations. We have spoken at colleges, universities
and art museums all over the world.
We have received awards from the National Organization for Women, the New
York City Borough President's office, the Center for Women's Policy Studies,
New York Woman Magazine and The Ministry of Culture in Berlin. We were the
subject of a documentary film, "Guerrillas in our Midst," that has won numerous
prizes.
In 1993 the National Endowment for the Arts funded our quarterly newsletter,
“Hot Flashes.” In 1995 we published our first book, “Confessions of the Guerrilla
Girls.” Our second book, “The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History
of Western Art,” was published in 1998. Between 1985 and 2000, close to 100
women, working collectively and anonymously, participated in the group. At
the turn of the millennium, three separate and independent incorporated groups
formed to bring fake fur and feminism to new frontiers:
Guerrilla Girls, Inc., www.guerrillagirls.com,
was established by two founding Guerrilla Girls and other members to continue
the use of provocative text, visuals and humor in the service of feminism
and social change. They have written several books and create projects about
the art world, film, politics and pop culture. They travel the world, talking
about the issues and their experiences as feminist masked avengers, reinventing
the “f” word into the 21st century.
Guerrilla Girls On Tour, Inc., www.guerrillagirlsontour.com, is a touring
theatre collective founded by three former members of the Guerrilla Girls.
GGOT develops plays, performances, street theatre actions and residency programs
that dramatize women'’s history and address the lack of opportunities for
women and artists of color in the performing arts.
GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., www.ggbb.org,
was formed by a founding Guerrilla Girl and a bevy of young, next-generation
feminists and artists of color. “The Broads” combat sexism, racism and social
injustice, exploring such taboo subjects as feminism and fashion and discrimination
in the wired workplace through their website and live interactive activist
events.