guerrillagirls

Armed with facts, outrageous humour and huge gorilla masks, the Guerrilla Girls have taken the art world by storm since 1985, exposing discrimination and fighting for equality. Their campaigns, a mix of irony and statistics, have effectively revealed the art and film industries’ dirty little secrets, proving that there’s still a long way to go for women and people of colour’s rights. In times where the ‘F’ word, feminism, has become almost an insult and people deceive themselves with the false notion of equality given by politics and mass media, WE have met our favourite apes to discover why, now more than ever, we should all be proud to be feminist, men included.

You first formed the Guerrilla Girls group in 1985, as the result of a protest to a MoMA exhibition that featured only 13 female artists out of the 169 represented. Which considerations made you decide to keep organising protests and to develop the group into a genuine activist movement?

We were angry about that MoMA exhibition. We didn’t organize that demonstration outside MoMA but a few of us walked that picket line and realized that it wasn’t having any effect. We realized that there needed to be a new way to construct political art -- to twist an issue around and present it in a way that hadn’t been seen before. We got the idea to put up a couple of posters on the streets of New York City about the state of women artists in the New York Art world. It wasn’t a pretty picture. Who knew that those posters would cause all hell to break loose? Who knew they would lead to hundreds of others? Who knew they would cause a crisis of conscience about diversity in the art world, something museums, collectors and critics had denied for a long time? Now, it’s a no brainer.... you can’t tell the story of a culture without all the voices in that culture.

In a recent interview with British magazine Dazed&Confused, Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina agreed with the fact that ‘being anonymous is a protester’s greatest weapon’. Apart from protecting your careers and personal lives, is this the reason why you chose to wear masks? Why did you choose Gorilla masks in particular?

Sometimes you got to speak out publicly, but sometimes it works even better to speak out anonymously. Our anonymity, for example, keeps the focus on the issues, and away from our personalities. Plus…you won’t believe what comes out of your mouth while wearing a gorilla mask!
As for the gorilla masks in particular, it actually came about by accident. After our first posters went up on the streets, reporters wanted to talk to us. As an anonymous group, we needed a disguise. One of our early members misspelled guerrilla as gorilla and we have worn gorilla masks ever since.

And what about the name? Where does Guerrilla Girls come from?

A couple of us invited a few friends to a meeting and brought the layouts for the first posters with us. We quickly named ourselves Guerrilla Girls to send a signal that this was a different kind of activist group, since at that time it was considered politically incorrect for women to call themselves girls. This happened way before Riot Grrrls and Girl Power.

From 1985 to today you have been campaigning to promote equality in the art and film industries. How have these industries changed over the years? Have you noticed any improvement?

At the entry level things are better for women and people of colour in the U.S. art world than ever before. But there is still a crushing glass ceiling, and most museums of modern and contemporary art still have less than 15% women in their collections. The film world is still a boys club, too, but things are slowly – very slowly -- changing there as well. Too slowly. There are still way too few women directors, writers and cinematographers.

At the same time, have you noticed any changes in the approach to feminism? Do you think today's young women are still willing to fight for their rights and proudly call themselves feminists?

We think everyone should use the F word – Feminism. It’s crazy that so many people who believe in the tenets of feminism — human rights including education for women worldwide, reproductive rights, freedom from sexual abuse and exploitation — still stop short of calling themselves feminists. Civil rights, women's rights, lesbian, gay and trans rights are the great human rights movements of our time. Feminism doesn’t get the respect it deserves, but it’s changed the world, revolutionized human thought and given many women lives their great grandmothers could never have imagined. Even the most repressive nations in the worlds have feminists, bravely speaking up or quietly working for women.

Your weapons against inequality, sexism and racism are humour, irony and statistics and I believe these are the most efficient instruments to attract people's attention on difficult and controversial topics. Do you find that people are willing to go behind the surface and explore the issues more in depth after the initial impact of your campaigns?

Most political art or activism just points to something and says, ‘This is bad.’ We use facts, humour and outrageous visuals to prove our case. Humour helps us fly under the radar. If you can get people who disagree with you to laugh at an issue, you have a hook right into their brain. Once inside, there’s a much better chance to convert them. We don’t put something out there unless we think it has a chance to be unforgettable and to change some people’s minds about an issue.

In September 2007 you participated to ‘Public Viewing’, an artistic intervention organised by Littmann Kuturprojekte in Shanghai. How was working in China? Do you find that people reacted to your posters in a different way? Are you planning any other actions in China?

We sent our picket signs to China, but did not go there ourselves, so we are not sure of the effect our work had. We’d love to go in the future and do a project about China, like we’ve done in places like Istanbul and Ireland. Our research usually surprises people.

You have been organising presentations and workshops in schools and museums around the world. Do you ever see men in the audience? Do you think it is even possible for men to be interested in your cause?

We have many supporters who are men. Lots of men today are feminists, and all should be. Of course we do sometimes get a few guys who are angry about feminism and come to argue with us. The audience usually shouts them down.

In 2003 you published Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers, a collection of female stereotypes. Do you think that women are partly responsible for reinforcing these stereotypes?

We are all influenced by stereotypes. Sometimes women try to live up to them, but mostly we have to condemn them and not let them define us.

This is a tricky question. You are being interviewed by a fashion and lifestyle magazine, but what is your opinion on fashion?
What do you think about the image that fashion promotes for women? Do you believe that fashion can be an instrument to empower women?

We don’t have a single Guerrilla Girls’ position on fashion. Some of us love fashion, some of us like it, and some of us have no interest in it at all. Fashion magazines make too many women feel insecure about their bodies, which is dangerous. On the other hand, fashion itself can be really empowering, fun and outrageous.

What advice would you give to a young artist? And to a young activist?

To artists we say: we wish you success in the art world, but never forget that the system sucks and the art market and celebrity culture make everyone but the superstars feel like failures. You must speak out against art world discrimination and corruption.
To activists we say: don’t worry that you can’t change everything. Just try to do one thing. If it works do another, if it doesn’t do another anyway. We promise that over time your activism will really add up to something.

Do you ever feel discouraged? What makes you keep going?

Yeah, we get discouraged, but here’s what keeps us going: thousands of people all over the world – aged 8 to 80 – write us each year and say they use us as a model for doing their own crazy, creative kind of activism. We feel lucky to be able to do this activist work. Over time, we see that this idea of ours has really added up to something.
It’s not easy for each of us to be two artists in one body. Often our Guerrilla Girls life takes over the rest of our life, but it’s worth it. We feel lucky to be able to do the Guerrilla Girls’ work as well as our own.

What is your ultimate target? Do you think that you will ever reach the point where there won’t be the need to fight against inequality?

There are so many targets: culture, politics, misogyny. We believe that the world will continue slowly inching towards more rights for women and people of colour, and lesbian, gay and transgendered people. But everyone has to speak up about the issues they care about. There’s a long way to go.

What are you planning for the future?

We just finished doing talks, workshops and a new street banner at Yoko Ono’s Meltdown Festival in London. What’s next? More creative complaining. More street projects, talks, performances and exhibitions. Look for us in Bilbao, Gothenburg, Mexico City and lots of places in the US.