An Anonymous Feminist Collective
How to be a Guerrilla Girl
The Getty Center’s Getty Research Institute
November 18, 2025 – April 12, 2026
How to be a Guerrilla Girl, an exhibition at The Getty Center’s Getty Research Institute (GRI) celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the anonymous feminist collective who continue to fight for equity and diversity in the art world with subversive humor, posters, stickers, merch, protests and public interventions.
Drawn from archival materials at the GRI, as well as new work commissioned by the Getty, the exhibition collects many of their original posters and flyers, made with their trademark snark.
“The Guerrilla Girls give us a blueprint for art and activism that is incredibly effective,” curators Zanna Gilbert and Kristin Juarez said in the press release. “Our goal is to show visitors the toolkit for artistic activism developed by the Guerrilla Girls, and that it can still be applied today, whatever the issues they care about may be.”
First They Try to Take Away a Woman’s Right to Choose, ca. 1991. Guerrilla Girls (American, active since 1985). Mixed media (electrostatic print, ink and color marker on paper, tape). Getty Research Institute, 2008.M.14. Used with permission. © Guerrilla Girls. Photo: J. Paul Getty Trust.
The newly commissioned work at the GRI takes artwork from the Getty’s collection and annotates the works with cartoon comic-like thought bubbles that give a 21st Century context to the women depicted.
The genesis of Guerrilla Girls can be traced to a 1984 Museum of Modern Art exhibition, An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, which only included 13 women among the 169 artists exhibited. Protesters against the gender inequality of the show picketed the museum, which drew media attention but had little impact on the museum or the public at large. Frustrated by the tepid response, a group decided to organize under the name Guerrilla Girls, each taking the name of a famous yet underappreciated woman artist –such as Kathe Kollwitz, Frida Kahlo and Alice Neel, as well as the names of writers and activists such as Gertrude Stein and Harriet Tubman.
They donned gorilla masks, so that the focus would remain on their art attacks rather than themselves personally.
One of their most famous images reimagines Ingres’ Odalisque wearing a gorilla mask, and asks: “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?” and then explains, “Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women but 85% of the models are” … thus, quantifying the male gaze in modern art.
Guerrilla Girls New York City Group Portrait, 1994. Teri Slotkin (American, b. 1948). C- print. © Teri Slotkin, New York, 1994. All rights reserved. Courtesy Guerrilla Girls © Guerrilla Girls. Photo: J. Paul Getty Trust.
The Guerrilla Girls, true to their name, ran their posters on billboards, and on the New York City buses and subways and buses. They spoke truth to power in clever ways.
On their iconic 1988 poster, “Advantages to Being a Women artist”, one line read, “Knowing your career might not pick up till after you’re 80.” Sad, but still true.
The Guerrilla Girls created report cards that scored how galleries and museums fared in their representation of women and artists of color. They also argued for reproductive freedom, and against sexual violence. Their focus on the data of representation created an objective metric for discrimination. Over the years, they continued to find clever and inventive ways to mock traditional female roles, support female artists, and agitate against galleries and museums that ignored women artists.
What is fascinating about the exhibition is that one can see how what started out as a protest – a reaction against the status quo – evolved into being recognized as its own artistic practice. Their posters became collectable; and their merch became popular – such as tote bags with their “Advantages to Being a Woman Artist” being sold at the gift shops of museums worldwide (I can remember being surprised to see it in the gift shop at GOMA, the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia).
How To Become A Guerrilla Girl, 1985-1987. Guerrilla Girls (American, active since 1985). Electrostatic print on paper. Getty Research Institute, 2008.M.14. Used with permission. © Guerrilla Girls. Photo: J. Paul Getty Trust.
As inspiring (and entertaining) as the work of the Guerrilla Girls is, the exhibition also makes one question – how much, and how little change has occurred. One can argue that contemporary art and contemporary art exhibitions regularly feature women and artists of color; however. museums’ permanent collections and auction sale prices continue to favor men. Organizations like The Judith Center continue to advocate for gender equality.
How To Be A Guerrilla Girl, turns out not to be an exhibition of past glory but rather a present call to action. The Guerrilla Girls once described themselves as “the conscience of the art world.” Their motto for activism remains relevant today: “Do one thing. If it works do another. If it doesn’t, do another anyway.”
Cover image: Guerrilla Girls Raising Hand, 1990. Ute Schendel (German, b. 1948). Gelatin silver print. Getty Research Institute, 2008.M.14.62. Used with permission. © by Ute Schendel. © Guerrilla Girls. Photo: J. Paul Getty Trust. All images courtesy Getty Research Institute.
