Connecticut College Womxn’s Center held an event titled “Guerrilla Girls Gone Wild” on Feb. 26 inspired by the Guerrilla Girls.
The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous group of womxn artists who have been protesting racism, sexism, and the lack of diversity in the art world since 1985. Whenever they make a public appearance, members of the group wear gorilla masks. Individual members use the names of famous women artists as their individual pseudonyms.
They formed in response to a Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibit titled “An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture.” This exhibit featured 165 artists, but only 13 of which were women, with even fewer people of color. It included no women of color. The group created and put up posters addressing this disparity throughout Manhattan.
The Guerrilla Girls believe the issues of representation are perpetuated by those who hold power in the art world. The group member who goes by the moniker Alice Neel has stated in several interviews that, “The power in the art world has mostly been white males. They in turn are attracted to work that they can relate to because of their culture and experiences. It’s not wrong, it’s just limited.”
Creating and distributing posters with graphics and statistics has remained the predominant form of protest used by the Guerilla Girls. They also appear publicly to protest and have produced books and billboards that detail the facts and visuals used in their posters. For example, the Guerrilla Girls created a poster with the image of a nude woman with the head of a gorilla and text that reads, “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.”
In recent years, the protest artwork of the Guerilla Girls has been displayed in exhibits themselves, documenting the 34 years that the group has been active and creating art. Since they have begun protesting, the number of women artists shown in museums and galleries has improved, but group members believe there is still a long way to go.
In the spirit of the work of the Guerrilla Girls, the Womxn Center’s event challenged participants to redesign hegemonic art. Participants sat at tables in the center of the Cro 1941 Room, creating collages and art pieces. Around the room, larger printouts of famous works of art were provided, and people could add their own words or collages to the pieces, with the intention of challenging sexist, racist, or noninclusive aspects of the artwork.
Liza Miller ’19 thought of and planned the event. She is the student ambassador of communications and marketing at the Womxn’s Center. Miller first learned about the Guerrilla Girls in an art history course and wanted to combine what she had learned about the protest group and their mission at the Womxn’s Center. She planned the event to incorporate the ideology and history of the Guerrilla Girls in a meaningful and interactive way. Additionally, Miller felt the Guerrilla Girls were particularly relevant given a recent trend in the art world. “The Guerrilla Girls movement intersects with a lot of art projects today; a lot of artists are creating art satirizing traditional works of art. I thought it would be cool to bring together the work of artists rebelling against standards and the work of the Guerrilla Girls,” Miller shared. After the event, Miller stated, “I was amazed at how the event went, people were so invested and created such beautiful artwork.”
The artwork created at the “Guerrilla Girls Gone Wild” event is currently on display in the Womxn’s Center, which is located on the garden level of Smith House. •
