April 18, 2017
Sunday April
23 is World Book Day! With Guerrilla Girls On Tour’s new foray into
the world of books, we hope you will join us as we share why we #LoveToRead. From
April 17 to the 23 post about why you #LoveToRead on Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram. Share them here:
All week we
will be posting about women authors and updates re UN/MASKED, Memoirs of aGuerrilla Girl On Tour by Aphra Behn
WEST COAST TOUR
COMING UP: “Act Like a FeministArtist – A Guerrilla Girl Unmasks” at Cal Poly Pomona – May 3, 2017 at 3PM.
Also check our FB page for an update about appearances in LA.
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NEWS from our lunch at NEW,INC.!
On Friday, April 7th, Aphra Behn joined artist, Sophia Wallace, for an informal talk with the members of NEW, INC., founded by the New Museum in 2014 and the first museum-led cultural incubator dedicated to supporting innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship across art, design, and technology. Aphra shared the Guerrilla Girls On Tour’s tactics and herstory with members and mentors of NEW, INC. over lunch including a show-and-tell of the last remaining Guerrilla Girls “Spy Kit” – part of the Guerrilla Girls contribution to the 1999 New Museum’s exhibit UBRAN ENCOUNTERS. The GG “Spy Kit” included projects directed at the theatre world, i.e. a postcard to the Roundabout Theatre suggesting they must be incredibly embarrassed about their lack of knowledge of women playwrights (because they did not produce any!) FYI, The Roundabout’s record on producing women lags far behind the rest of NYC theatres – out of 9 current plays only two are by women and only one is on their main stage. Sticker campaign anyone?
On Friday, April 7th, Aphra Behn joined artist, Sophia Wallace, for an informal talk with the members of NEW, INC., founded by the New Museum in 2014 and the first museum-led cultural incubator dedicated to supporting innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship across art, design, and technology. Aphra shared the Guerrilla Girls On Tour’s tactics and herstory with members and mentors of NEW, INC. over lunch including a show-and-tell of the last remaining Guerrilla Girls “Spy Kit” – part of the Guerrilla Girls contribution to the 1999 New Museum’s exhibit UBRAN ENCOUNTERS. The GG “Spy Kit” included projects directed at the theatre world, i.e. a postcard to the Roundabout Theatre suggesting they must be incredibly embarrassed about their lack of knowledge of women playwrights (because they did not produce any!) FYI, The Roundabout’s record on producing women lags far behind the rest of NYC theatres – out of 9 current plays only two are by women and only one is on their main stage. Sticker campaign anyone?
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| Guerrilla Girls' SPY KIT for URBAN ENCOUNTERS at the NEW MUSEUM |
The artist, Sophia Wallace, was
Aphra’s co-presenter and her presentation of the evolution of her work was
amazing, especially her Cliteracy Project. Please check out her web site for
info on her and her work. You can watch her TEDx talk here: http://www.sophiawallace.com/tedx
 |
| Sophia Wallace and Aphra Behn |
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We feel the need to comment on Fearless Girl – the bronze sculpture by
Kristen Visbal depicting a girl facing the well-known Charging Bull statue in the
Financial District of Manhattan. Fearless Girl was commissioned on the
first anniversary of State Street Global’s “Gender Diversity Index” fund,
which has SHE as it’s NASDAQ ticker symbol. Next to Fearless Girl is a bronze plaque that reads: Know the
power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference. Yes, “SHE” makes a difference not “She”
makes a difference. The statue’s placement was an advertisement for SHE. In the
weeks that followed Fearless Girl’s
installation, the sculptor
of the “Charging Bull” statue (Arturo Di Modica) came out to
insist she be removed because her presence changes the original intent of the
bronze bull. An article by Greg Fallis supports Di Modica’s charge because, as
he states in his blog post, Fearless Girl has
appropriated the strength and power of Charging Bull.
Well…Fearless Girl may not have started as a work of guerrilla art...it is what it has become. Fallis writes "If
it were placed anywhere else, Fearless Girl would still be a very
fine statue — but without facing Charging Bull the Fearless
Girl has nothing to be fearless to." Um….yes she does -- Trump, the world, patriarchy are three I
can think of off the top of my head. Fearless Girl is facing the symbol
of a charging bull and that is what many women feel as thought they have been
facing forever. I disagree she has nothing to be fearless to without the bull.
She represents the attitude women have adopted to exist. Fearless Girl is a work
of art that has morphed from her original intent - it is sort of cool how that
happened. And for this reason, if you move her, she will still represent the
same thing to many. So go ahead. We will remain inspired by her!
Until next time! Thank you for reading.
Love, Aphra Behn
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