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Guerrilla Girls explode Hollywood stereotypes
NY, Dec 08: Frida Kahlo and Kathe Kollwitz recently sat for an interview. From the neck down, they were downtown chic in black pants and black shirts. But from the neck up, they were angry, wily, animalistic and ferocious.
NY, Dec 08: Frida Kahlo and Kathe Kollwitz recently sat for an interview. From the neck down, they were downtown chic in black pants and black shirts. But from the neck up, they were angry, wily, animalistic and ferocious.
The two women weren't really the famed artists - both of whom are dead. They were Guerrilla Girls, activists who take the names of their favorite artists and hide their true identities by wearing gorilla masks. Kahlo was the explosive Mexican artist who created portraits and paintings in the 1930s and 1940s. Kollwitz was a German expressionist printmaker and sculptor at the turn of the 20th century.
The gorilla mask has become a symbol of sorts for the changing face of feminism, especially in the world of the arts. And the Guerrilla Girls have donned the cover-ups since 1985 when they first began running around the country hanging posters and giving speeches about women in the arts.
"All of our research has shown that culture, which so many people see as avant-garde, has always lagged behind in other fields of society in terms of women and people of color," the Guerrilla Girl who called herself Kollwitz said. From behind her mask, you can see little except her clear blue eyes.
"After all, if 50 per cent of the artists graduating from major art schools are women and only 10 per cent of the artists shown at a certain museum are women, then what happened? Why did they fall through the cracks?" Kahlo and Kollwitz are currently touring the country to talk about female stereotypes. The group recently put out a new book called, Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls Guide to Female Stereotypes. The book follows the history of many female stereotypes such as debutantes, spinsters, biker chicks and Valley Girls.
The gorilla mask has become a symbol of sorts for the changing face of feminism, especially in the world of the arts. And the Guerrilla Girls have donned the cover-ups since 1985 when they first began running around the country hanging posters and giving speeches about women in the arts.
"All of our research has shown that culture, which so many people see as avant-garde, has always lagged behind in other fields of society in terms of women and people of color," the Guerrilla Girl who called herself Kollwitz said. From behind her mask, you can see little except her clear blue eyes.
"After all, if 50 per cent of the artists graduating from major art schools are women and only 10 per cent of the artists shown at a certain museum are women, then what happened? Why did they fall through the cracks?" Kahlo and Kollwitz are currently touring the country to talk about female stereotypes. The group recently put out a new book called, Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls Guide to Female Stereotypes. The book follows the history of many female stereotypes such as debutantes, spinsters, biker chicks and Valley Girls.
Annoyed by the lack of representation, they decided to start putting up posters around SoHo and the East Village in lower Manhattan - areas that were defining the New York art scene at the time. The posters pointed out facts about women and the galleries that eventually fed the museums. The women wore gorilla masks as they tacked up the posters, and the movement began.
Bureau Report