Guerrilla Girls

For over 40 years, the Guerrilla Girls have been challenging the conscience of the art world. With biting humor and provocative slogans in visually striking poster campaigns, they highlight inequalities relating to gender and race in the international art business and beyond. In doing so, the Guerrilla Girls particularly criticize institutional structures in which the white, male and heteronormative status quo dominates. The anonymous presence of the Guerrilla Girls – the members of the collective are always disguised with gorilla masks and, instead of their own names, use those of deceased women artists such as Frida Kahlo and Käthe Kollwitz – is a radical act in an art world driven by ego and fame. Preserving their anonymity shifts the focus away from the individual women artists behind the masks and onto the artistic message itself, which is conveyed clearly, sharply and uncompromisingly. Through the use of billboards, posters and stickers placed in the urban space, the collective also prevents its art from being appropriated as a commodity by the art market.