Blog 1: Identity

The group “The Guerilla Girls” can be referred to as an activist art group. Made up of radical feminist artists, the women have been responding to the nepotism shown towards the white males within the art society since 1985. To broadcast their beliefs, the Guerilla Girls used art. Seeing that the Met had more nude female art works than actual female artists, the Guerilla Girls put up the above poster all over New York City and ”the implication, of course, is that women artists are underrepresented, while the sexualized female form, signified as models in male artists’ work, remains ubiquitous in the display of the art historical record” (McDaniel 44).After attacking the galleries and museums in New York, the Girls set their sights on exposing the issues in Hollywood. By taking on the film industry, the Guerilla Girls broadened their following and therefore increased their popularity. Using humor, the Guerilla Girls want to change the negative response that people have with the ideas behind feminism. They say such things like “we’re feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman” (Guerillagirls).

The idea that identity could be or that it is communal is relatively new. Roland Barthes and other great minds began to grow “skeptical of the emphasis on singular identity and uniqueness and instead focuses on how people are powerfully influenced by forces outside themselves” (McDaniel 42). Within this particular group, the Guerilla Girls are not an individual, but a singular mass. Wearing gorilla masks, the members’ faces are never seen. They never divulge their real names; instead they only go by the names of famous dead female artists. By never revealing their true identity they keep their identity as part of the group, as communal or relational to the group instead of separate or isolated to themselves. By acting in unison, their identity becomes almost whole. Like a complete acting body, the group works together to complete their tasks. The use the terms “we” in their writings, always referring to the fact that there are more than one behind their actions, however never denoting how many are responsible, if there is a hierarchy, and especially they stress the force of numbers. So by never giving names or faces, the organization gives off the air of mystery, however it still allows for its members to lose their identity into it. However, without our own community it would be hard to identify ourselves…

GUERRILLAGIRLS: Fighting discrimination with facts, humor and fake fur. Web. 19 Jan. 2010.
http://www.guerrillagirls.com/.

McDaniel, Craig, and Jean Robertson. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.