“Do women have to be naked to get into the MET museum?”
The Guerrilla Girls, an anonymous feminist art collective, asks this important question among others, shaking the male-dominated art world with their humorous visual culture. Despite claiming they had to be naked to get into the MET, the Guerilla Girls have found themselves displayed in some of the largest art museums in the Western world. For my HIST390: Public History term paper, I had the pleasure of exploringfeminism in the art museum using the Guerrilla Girls as a case study. Through their own successes and obstacles, the collective establishes the art museum as an effective site to navigate feminism’s integration into the museum.
Arguably, feminism challenges the core of museums—to categorize objects into a narrative for public consumption. However, it seems as if art museums, feminist theory, and the Guerrilla Girls can evolve in tandem. All three struggle with hierarchies, dominant narratives, being open to change, multiple interpretations, and most of all, transforming the framework in which the public interacts with objects. Feminism can manifest in various ways once it enters the doors of a museum, as the distinction between feminist curating and feminist art is blurred.In practice, feminism becomes not just the theory behind the curator’s actions, but their interpretation, the objects themselves, and the “reading” of these objects by the public.
The Guerrilla Girls’ integration of feminism into the museum is far from seamless. The group struggles with internal power hierarchies, staying inclusive, and moving past simply calling for female representation. However, it is through these obstacles that museums can interpret, present, and gain feedback on gendered objects. The New York Times claims that all Guerilla Girl members must “adjust to life as an ape,” a similar adjustment is happening behind the walls of the art museum.