gorillagirlsEliseHans
Ever since people identified differences between women and men, one race and another, there have been discriminations against the "lesser" of the two. Although laws have been passed to try and correct the discriminatory problems, they still occur without many people really taking notice. This is a big problem in the art world, as the Guerrilla Girls pointed out. The Guerrilla Girls brought up controversial issues of the art world using very witty and sarcastic messages in flyers,posters, and books. These flyers and posters themselves became artwork, artwork with the power to influence things to change.I was not aware of of how unfair the art world was unfair to women before going to this lecture. 65% of artists are female, but less than 10% ever get their work shown. That's ridiculous! And the fact is that women have been the majority of art school graduates for decades, they are just not recognized as being on an equal standing as men. Being female, I am glad I had attended this lecture and found out all the different ways artists (and people in general) are discriminated and segregated. Their anonymity is very important in their work because they are getting people to listen to the message they are trying to convey, rather than what they look like and what stereotype they would fall under. They band together for a common cause of pushing equality in the art world, which I am very grateful.
Their witty and creative artwork and books also showed all the different stereotypes there are for women (which includes those of different nationalities and religions) Females fall under all types of stereotypes such as the bitch, slut, bimbo, dumb blonde, mothers, and witch. They explained some of these: a slut is the girl who sleeps with everyone and the bitch is the one who is opinionated and sleeps with everyone but you. Yes, comedic, but at the same time, it shows everyone listening how ridiculous these stereotypes are. They also showed a series of Barbie-type dolls, each of which fell under a certain ethnic stereotype and each had a little blurb about them. They included Theresa: "The Good Catholic Girl," Madame X: "Dragon Lady," and Sally: "The Girl Who Gets With All The Black Guys." Not only were their descriptions hilarious, but they were way out there which got a point across that not everyone can fall under these categories.
Our goals in the studio may go along with those the Guerrilla Girls bring up. Dominantly female, our class tries to find unique and creative ways to convey ideas. Though ours ideas aren't exactly targeted at the same thing, we've done many different types of projects in CPS class, as have the Guerrilla Girls. I am always curious to see what solutions others in the class have come up with for projects, and find that even though men and women are different, everyone has their own way of approaching the project. I find myself wondering how college art classes would be if they were dominantly male...
not so important side note about a high school experience
(doesn't have a TON to do with the assignment, but it relates on the basis of males outnumbering females in a class)
Elise Hans
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- Studio Writing: Gorilla Girls last edited on 9 April 2007 at 10:46 am by 148.61.85.8