Established 1985 in New York, Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous collective of feminist women artists whose sharp social and economic commentary addresses systemic biases against women and people of colour in the art world, often from within the institutional contexts their work critiques.

The newly founded group produced a series of protest posters highlighting the stunning paucity of female artists, and near-total absence of black artists, represented in major museums and art galleries. These iconic posters made use of sleek graphic design and catchy slogans, culture jamming and inverting mainstream marketing tactics to criticise the willingness of artistic institutions to exploit the female body while excluding female narratives.

Guerrilla Girls’ shameless approach to protest art proved to be effective and influential, with the group continuing to spark dialogues about representation and diversity.

Remaining anonymous, members don gorilla masks and use pseudonyms that refer to deceased female artists such as Frida Kahlo, Kathe Kollwitz, and Alice Neel.

"Mainly, we wanted the focus to be on the issues, not on our personalities or our own work."

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