The Guerrilla Girls are a group of feminist activist artists that aim to expose bias, discrimination, elitism and imbalance in the art world. By using startling statistics, humour and outrageous visuals, the Guerilla Girls aim to undermine the mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, subtext, overlooked and unfair. Their activism targets the ‘cookie-cutter’ definitions of art circulated by the same small group of those in power that have dictated art in various institutions. Their focus is to promote a more accurate and holistic representation of cultures and societies within the art world. By subverting the dominant discourse, they aim to systematically put separate groups in the art world accountable for the lack of representation.
The compositional elements include their signature style of using sardonic, satirical, at times, playfully irreverent tone conveyed through their print pieces, building on to their confrontational and provocative approach. Often their print pieces adopt elements of pop art – its usage of font, colour or bolding. Colour and contrast are used as tools to draw the audience’s attention towards the subject or theme. Within their works, they also interact directly with the audience through rhetorical questions or synthetic personalisation. Finally, it is not uncommon to see their prints using a form of intertextuality in a manner defamiliarized or socially subverted in order to make a striking impression.
KWA Word Cloud
Personal Notes
Excellent, Sara – love the detailed notes at the end! You’re written very lucidly about their work in the extended paragraphs and have nailed their objectives and strategies – well done. Point out the playful pseudonym they give themselves and how it relates to guerrilla advertising; also, the elements of pop culture they invoke in their work is important in reaching different kinds of audience.