Art as activism. That’s what The Guerilla Girls are all about, and Dearest Art Collector is no different.

The art world is a strange place. Money, like in all other aspects of life, is the lifeblood of the industry, and determines what is seen and what isn’t. That’s part of the reason why a lot of artists don’t “make it” until super late in life, or after they’re dead. It’s a shame. The people who have all the power in this situation are art collectors. They’re the ones who buy up these artworks for crazy amounts of money, solidifying the reputation of the artist that they bought it from. The problem is, art collectors have historically mostly bought work from white men. That’s not a surprise, right?

In the mid-’80s the Guerrilla Girls formed to take a hard stance against blatant discrimination and inequality in the art world. These gorilla-masked art activists use the names of famous female artists in an attempt to hide their true identities. Through street art and performance art, they bluntly call out the unfair standards toward female artists in the art scene. One of their earliest pieces, Dearest Art Collector, was a pink poster that they sent to some of the biggest collectors in the United States. It reads “Dearest art collector, It has come to our attention that your collection, like most, does not contain enough art by women. We know that you feel terrible about this and will rectify the situation immediately. Love, Guerrilla Girls.”

It’s not just the straightforward truth of the words and the bold gesture of actually sending the piece to collectors that make the poster stand out - the presentation really sells it. The note is pink and prefaced with a sad little flower. It’s also written in a feminine cursive script that resembles a high schooler’s notebook. Then, there is the tone in which it's written - nice and polite, which in itself is a call out to how women are expected to be kind in every aspect of their lives, and always be sure to never hurt anyone's feelings, even when addressing serious issues like sexism.  The whole thing bleeds with a satirical and powerful self-awareness. After sending the poster out to rich art collectors in the United States, the Guerrilla Girls translated it into other languages and sent it to wealthy collectors across the world, to get even more exposure and call out even more influential people.

It’s this early willingness to take the system head-on, without fear of repercussions, that has led to the Guerrilla Girls having a more than 30-year impact on the art world. Without people like them barking at those with power, things would never change. And because of them, artists that weren’t exclusively white and male got opportunities they otherwise might not have, Guerrilla Girls included. It turns out that when you publicly call someone out, they’ve gotta publicly respond. And the pressure is on them to say and do the right thing.