EQUAL TERMS?

Guerrilla Girls demonstrate in words and images what the art scene was like, and still largely is, shaped by white men’s gaze and perceived needs. They pinpoint how persistent certain opinions and cultural constructs are and can be, with slogans such as “You’re seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and artists of color”, and “The internet was 84.5% male and 82.3% white. Until now. Guerrilla Girls have invaded the world wide web. Join us.”

To undermine the prevailing structures and narratives, they perform actions in urban environments, targeting art institutions and individuals. By revealing hidden narratives and subtexts, they highlight the fixed notions and direct ignorance of our time. The fact that abortions during the first months of pregnancy were considered legal in the Catholic Church in the mid-19th century until 1869 is information that today’s commentators are unaware of or choose to disregard. But not Guerrilla Girls – they make a poster and put it up right in front of us.

One poster refers to Moderna Museet, as an example of an institution that has worked on increasing the number of works by women in its collection. The Second Museum of Our Dreams was initiated in 2008 by Lars Nittve, the director at the time. It generated an additional government allocation of SEK 5 million and further private donations for the acquisition of art by women artists

Guerrilla Girls consists of anonymous artists and activists. With telling statistics, intelligent humour, large portions of irony and powerful aesthetics, they champion discriminated groups whose rights are ignored by the prevailing social order. The motto of Guerrilla Girls is: “Do one thing. If it works, do another. If it doesn’t, do another anyway. Keep Chipping away!”