WASHINGTON—This spring, work by the artist collective known as the Guerrilla Girls—who describe themselves as “the conscience of the art world”—will be on view in a new exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) on the occasion of their 40th anniversary. On view from April 12 through September 28, 2025, Guerrilla Girls: Making Trouble showcases more than 30 iconic prints and objects from 1985 through 2007.
The Guerrilla Girls burst into the art world in 1985 with bold text- and graphic-based prints denouncing discrimination. The group, a collective of anonymous feminist-activist artists, formed in the wake of the Museum of Modern Art’s 1984 exhibition An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. Although the exhibition claimed to represent the “best” artists of the time, only 13 of the 169 artists were women. In response, the Guerrilla Girls pasted posters onto walls throughout Lower Manhattan decrying the museums, galleries and critics enabling or participating in inequitable treatment of women and artists of color. With eye-catching aesthetics and stark statistics, the Guerrilla Girls became a global force for change, holding installations and demonstrations around the United States and abroad. Many of the topics that the Guerrilla Girls addressed in the 1980s and ’90s—reproductive rights, the environment, and political corruption, to name a few—are still pressing today.
To protect their identities, members of the Guerrilla Girls adopt as pseudonyms the names of deceased historical women artists, such as Alma Thomas, Käthe Kollwitz and Frida Kahlo, and wear gorilla masks during public appearances. Known for their provocative street campaigns and advertising-style graphics, they project their messages across billboards, buildings, banners and other sites, bringing widespread attention to issues of inequality and inequity.
“For 40 years the Guerrilla Girls—and NMWA—have advocated for greater transparency and fairness in the arts and beyond, and neither are slowing down,” said Hannah Shambroom, NMWA assistant curator, who organized Guerrilla Girls: Making Trouble. “Through the years, the Guerrilla Girls have continued to make waves with their signature bold installations, calling for positive change. NMWA’s exhibition highlights the collective’s intrepid work and encourages museum visitors to speak up in their own activism.”
Exhibition Overview
Drawn from NMWA’s deep holdings of work by the Guerrilla Girls, the exhibition presents a visual timeline of the group’s progress and ever-expanding subject matter. The installation, presented in the museum’s new MaryRoss Taylor Galleries within the Gloria and Dan Logan Learning Commons, begins with a selection of prints from their earliest series, “Guerrilla Girls Talk Back.” Completed between 1985 and 1990, these works speak directly to arts institutions, patrons and artists. What Do These Artists Have in Common? (1985) brazenly names artists who allow their work to be shown in galleries that discriminate against women. Guerrilla Girls’ Pop Quiz (1990) asks, “If February is Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month, what happens the rest of the year?” (The answer, in bold type: “Discrimination.”)
While the Guerrilla Girls do not shy away from blunt confrontation, they also employ humor to point out hypocrisy and double standards. Guerrilla Girls’ Code of Ethics for Art Museums (1990) features two screen-printed stone tablets, listing sardonic tenets such as, “Thou shalt provide lavish funerals for Women and Artists of Color who thou planeth to exhibit only after their Death.” Long before the age of shareable social media posts and viral memes, the Guerrilla Girls used outrageous graphics and biting barbs to ensure that their messages were memorable and widely shared.
Later objects, from the early 2000s through today, show the gradual progress the group has encountered since their founding. Benvenuti alla Biennale Femminista! (2005) addresses the Venice Biennale. Appearing as picketers, the masked Guerrilla Girls hold signs that draw attention to the historical underrepresentation of women and artists from non-Western countries in the national pavilions of the famed international exhibition. The placards exemplify the group’s acknowledgment of change (one reads, “Women Directors at Last!”), while still holding the art world accountable (“Who cares if they’re introduced as ‘the Spanish girls’ at press conferences!”). The Guerrilla Girls take a populist approach to their work, and the exhibition will also showcase a selection of mass-produced objects designed by the group. Small rubber erasers declaring “Erase Discrimination” wittily combine material and text to exhort people to action.
The Guerrilla Girls will be honored for their extraordinary achievements at the NMWA Spring Gala on April, 11, 2025. Related programming will complement the exhibition. Full details at nmwa.org.
Guerrilla Girls: Making Trouble runs concurrent to an exhibition of work by another powerful feminist collective, the Women’s Studio Workshop, an institution that serves women and trans, intersex, nonbinary and gender-fluid artists. A Radical Alteration: Women’s Studio Workshop as a Sustainable Model for Art Making will be on view from April 25 through September 28, 2025.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts. With its collections, exhibitions, programs and online content, the museum inspires dynamic exchanges about art and ideas. NMWA advocates for better representation of women and nonbinary artists and serves as a vital center for thought Leadership, community engagement and social change. NMWA addresses the gender imbalance in the presentation of art by bringing to Light important women artists of the past while promoting great women artists working today. The collection highlights a wide range of works in a variety of mediums by artists including Rosa Bonheur, Louise Bourgeois, Lalla Essaydi, Lavinia Fontana, Frida Kahlo, Hung Liu, Zanele Muholi, Faith Ringgold, Niki de Saint Phalle and Amy Sherald.
NMWA is Located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. It is open Tues.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and closed on Mondays and select holidays. Admission is $16 for adults, $13 for D.C. residents and visitors 70 and over, and free for visitors 21 and under. Admission is free the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month. For information, call 202-783-5000, visit nmwa.org, Broad Strokes blog, Facebook or Instagram.
Media Contact
Katrina Weber Ashour, kweber@nmwa.org