Author: Eliana

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Gorillas in the Concrete Jungle

Eliana Grajales

Women all around the world are told that modesty is everything, covering up is important or else you’re pretty much labelled a whore.. But why when a woman understands this sentiment and prances the streets covering herself with a monkey mask she’s “batshit crazy”? Oh! Excuse my language, I meant gorilla. The Guerrilla Girls is an organization of anonymous women donning gorilla masks while appearing publicly and one of their first battles in the art world was fighting the hypocrisy of men only letting women into museums when nude modelling. So much for modesty, am I right folks? They have been making posters to combat social issues specifically regarding artists since 1985 such as sexism and racism but some might say that their comedic approach may be too provocative. 

Provocation has two highly known meanings; to be overly sexual or to be offensive. Both can be applied in this context but I believe that whatever women do and have done can and will be labelled as such in a overcritical way, therefore the Guerrilla Girls artistic medium will be stereotyped in that way regardless. Personally, I do agree that the Guerrilla Girls posters are provocative.. But is that a bad thing? The issues that they touch upon run deep and no changes will be made through making people “comfortable.” People need to be scared of these issues, appalled even, and that will not happen if this group isn’t bold or “offensive.” 

The Guerrilla Girls most famous poster Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum? was one piece of art to test social boundaries. On said poster there is a seemingly naked woman with her back to the viewer with a large gorilla mask bearing huge teeth. This piece of art was hung up all over the streets of New York city with the goal of appearing provocative to both grab people’s attention and address the issue that the Metropolitan Museum of Art had with barely letting female artists display their pieces inside. The majority of women got into the Met. by nude modelling for male painters and/or sculptors. Despite provocation working to the Guerilla Girls advantage on the streets The Public Art Fund had denied their poster to be made into billboards. In the end the Girls settled with buses as a chariot to spread their ideas. 

Another poster that can be seen as provocative is LET’S TOAST IRISH ART, LADS! This one I found quite funny with how the feminist group points out the hypocrisy of toxic masculinity in Irish museums. The tone in which they use is snobbish when mocking the practices of catering to male artists and the satire is hard to miss. Now how is a poster of a brew next to a shot glass in any way provocative? It’s all in the wording for this poster! Especially the part where they refer to Ireland’s art academies as “seminal.”

The Guerrilla Girls ultimately used their comedy, offensiveness, boldness, and creativity to better their art. Their approach to addressing issues definitely reminded me of a feminist icon, Rosie the Riveter. We Can Do It! Was made initially to recruit women to work during World War II but the poster inevitably spiraled into much more. Rosie is now an inspiration to people like me and a representation of feminism in the early twentieth century. Although Rosie doesn’t address half of what the Guerrilla Girls do in their art, she does spread more awareness due to her popularity.

So that being said, if I want to go around New York city hanging up posters while posing as a weird mix between Marylyn Monroe and King Kong then I’ll do so, CHAD! Sometimes weirdness and vulgarity draws people’s attention to a cause and the Guerilla Girls do exactly that with both their looks and their art. Being provocative is what they do and have been doing for a long time and it sure is effective! If I saw a bright yellow banner in the middle of the sidewalk with a naked lady-gorilla hybrid I’d definitely do a double take, wouldn’t you?

Sources:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Guerrilla Girls.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 4 Dec. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Guerrilla-Girls

Manchester, Elizabeth. “Do women have to be naked to get Into the Met. Museum?.” Guerilla Girls Talk Back art portfolio, 1989, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/849438

J.Howard Miller, “We Can Do It,” poster, produced for Westinghouse/The War Production Coordinating Committee, 1942, National Archives, Powers of Persuasion https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_538122 

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Unit two essay proposal: Guerrilla Girls

Eliana Grajales

For this essay I decided to dive further into a topic that I had researched for my high school capstone. The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous feminist group that don gorilla masks while schooling people on social issues such as (but are not limited to) racial injustice, sexism, and discrimination of any kind. How do they do this you may ask? The Guerrilla Girls use humor and satire through art projects, more specifically posters/banners and short films.

Two Guerilla Girls posters that I found especially memorable

Some things are especially important to research for this essay such as…

  • The Museum of Modern Arts in New York City (MoMA)
  • the Guerilla Girls Talk Back art portfolio
  • the Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum poster
  • Kathe Kollwitz
  • Other art museums in New York City

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Guerrilla Girls”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 4 Dec. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Guerrilla-Girls.

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Not Just A Quilt.

Eliana Grajales

Social change does not happen in the blink of an eye, it takes groups of people protesting, gigantic demonstrations, ruckus in the streets.. or a gorgeous quilt. The NAMES project spreads awareness of the HIV/AIDs virus by displaying a 1.2 million square foot quilt with names of the people who have fallen to the disease. This quilt is a somber reminder of the lives lost to HIV but manages to be absolutely breathtaking at the same time, and no, not because of its beauty, but because this project had given families and friends a way to grieve. It leaves me in awe knowing thousands upon thousands of people contributed their own stitch work for this display.

There was a couple blocks in particular that I chose to examine closer, although I wish I could see them all! I took a look at Freddy Mercury’s four blocks that were dedicated to him. Something that I admire about this project is that although Freddy Mercury is a big name in music he was honored just as everyone else was, no more, no less.

Block 5,845 on the quilt

All of the sections are amazing in their own ways but I believe that the very last block added to the quilt told the best message. In the beginning of making the quilt the project had received thousands of submissions at once but in 1988 a single block was submitted. “The Last One” was a symbol representing the hope that people wouldn’t need to keep giving the project stitch-work because we’d stop losing people to this virus. Now 48’000 panels strong, the quilt is complete and the most visible representation of people with HIV/AIDs.

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Confederate statues… why?

Eliana Grajales

My title says it all. Why? The first question I asked myself while reading these articles on confederate statues was “why is it so easy for some people to defend these pieces of art used to spread violent rhetoric but when it comes to street art/graffiti it’s difficult to even label it as a valid art medium and sometimes considered vandalism?” Don’t get me wrong, graffiti can be used to spread harmful messages and it’s absolutely no where near a perfect form of art, but the fact that it’s easy for someone to say that graffiti is a violation of property and argue to keep statues of men who represent white supremacy up is truly mind boggling to me.

Something I also found particularly interesting in the article “Confederate Statues Were Built To Further A ‘White Supremacist Future'” is once the public started to rightfully become outraged with these statues the Mayor of Baltimore then decided to take them down without anyone noticing. This to me reads as someone only trying to reverse their wrongs because they were caught and not actually because they genuinely felt what they did were bad. Not to say that the Mayor of Baltimore erected these statues up but he actively stayed complicit and kept them up even though they were a symbol of hate.

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Slang for Dummies

Eliana Grajales

All living things on earth communicate whether that be by the way they move or gestures, but what makes humans so special is what we use to communicate most frequently; Language. Languages such as English are used day to day, but is there a “proper” way of speaking it? The answer to that question is no! Humans make new ways to speak languages all the time, this is called slang. The fascinating thing about slang is that an English speaking British person wouldn’t understand an English speaking New Yorker if they called a car a “whip.” Some other words New Yorkers have made into slang are “buggin”, “tight”, or “lit.” Some would argue that these words and phrases should not be used because they are an incorrect way of speaking. Although some may say so, slang should not be considered improper at all and it can easily be important to someone’s identity.

A word that I use often that can be considered slang is Bodega. It’s an originally Latin word for “winehouse” but what I and many others refer to when we say Bodega is a corner store. This word can be understood all throughout New York but if I ask my friends from Texas what that means they’ll have no clue. It makes me feel special because it feels like a secret code word of some kind. Alternatively, when people understand the word when I say it, I feel a sort of comradery with the person. To some it’s not a big deal to understand and a part of regular life, for me it means much more. Although hispanics from other places may not even use this word at all, bodega makes me feel more in touch with my Puerto Rican heritage. Why? I unfortunately lack the skill to speak a second language and the spanish slang that I use daily is the closest thing I have to my great grandparents home, Puerto Rico. Interestingly enough, bodega makes me feel a part of a group but also sets me apart from other people, emphasizing how it makes me feel “special.” In this era of my life I lack a lot of New York friends and when I say words that they’re unfamiliar with, like Bodega, it gives me a chance to teach them a word that’s unique to my home. 

I am a young Puerto Rican from the Bronx and I’ve lived here all my life. I hear slang being used frequently to the point where I don’t bat an eye when someone calls me “cuh.” These words personally make me feel at home and I have a great understanding of them, some words are even blended in with Spanish since I live in a Hispanic community. Throughout my school experience though, me and my fellow classmates were told it was impolite to address others using slang and we were encouraged to speak “correctly”. The English many of my classmates spoke fluently in and couldn’t simply “turn off” wasn’t good enough to those who held authority over us. If someone was raised to speak a certain way it can’t be an easy experience to change it all for someone else’s approval.. My question is if a 10 year old child and their class can understand slang, why can’t they utilize that to communicate? 

Gloria Anzaldúa explored her situation with being condemned for the way she spoke in her essay How to Tame A Wild Tongue. On page 34 Anzaldúa was told “I want you to speak English” by her mother even though she was speaking it. Anzaldúa did not express difficulty speaking the language, the only discernible thing about her English was her accent. She was making an attempt to speak what some may call “correct English” and was scolded for something that wasn’t exactly in her control. In reality, Anzaldúa was being punished for trying to stay true to herself and not conforming in the way others wanted. That’s the entire issue, conformity. Kids in schools and young people like Anzaldúa and myself are forced to believe in this idea of proper English when the way we all speak is perfectly valid and  contributes to who we are.

Language is a form of self expression, some people use secret phrases or words to communicate an idea to another person. If their language can be understood by just one individual then it should be considered correct. Policing the way others speak can suck out the creativity some have and their individualism.