Local Art Scene is Alive and Well

Danae Floyd

The feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls have displayed their activist work all over the world and now they've finally made it to Baltimore. Now through March 2017 the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will be showcasing their work.

In the front room of the museum’s contemporary art wing you will find 3 walls split by decade respectively, pink, yellow, and blue painted from floor to ceiling. On said walls, on the low-end these are simply posters. No fresco on plaster, no egg tempura on wood and no oil on canvas, simply plain canvas. However, on the high-end, these works are seen as artistic activism that shines light on the lack of women and people of color in the arts and entertainment world.

Their tone is provocative satire, mixed with brassy imagery and powerful statistics. One of their most famous posters reads “do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum,” which Brings notice to not only the Mets lack of diversity but also the feminist theory of the male gaze.

The Guerrilla Girls have been around since the mid-1980s. Most importantly they're all anonymous and even more interestingly they wear guerrilla masks to keep their identities secret.

Michelle Wilson a visitor to BMA said, “Being a lover of Feminism, I'm familiar with The Guerrilla Girls, so I feel really privileged to finally see them in my home town.”

CCBC has an art scene itself. Photographers, painters and even “YouTubers” are all present on campus. Photographer Anna Aguilo has been at CCBC for three semesters and has recently been gaining local recognition for her website where she has been showcasing her “Heartbreak Series.” Aguilo photographs and interviews young people on their experience with heartbreak and pulls the most profound highlights from the interview and displays the text on the photos itself.

Her niche is photographing queer women of color. Aguilo says she wants to move people and “make concepts people can relate to.”

CCBC also has a “YouTuber” walking around campus. Kyleata Orta, who on her YouTube channel goes by “Killa Ky.” Orta started her channel 7 months ago and has racked up nearly one thousand subscribers. Being a multifaceted YouTube star, she melts lifestyle, travel, fashion and beauty into one cauldron of entertainment.

All 3 CCBC campuses also have art galleries highlighting student art from all areas of the college’s Art Programs. The Essex campus gallery is currently showcasing an exhibit called “Process/Progress.” The artists are all CCBC ADIM alumni showing twenty-seven various works curated by Ayobami Adeyemo. From traditional acrylic on canvas to digital paintings, many different art mediums are covered in this exhibit.

From The BMA to The CCBC Essex campus one can clearly see that the local art scene is alive and well in and around Baltimore. For more information on the CCBC Art Gallery visit: http://www.ccbcmd.edu/Campus-Life-and-Activities/Arts-and-Culture/Art-Galleries.aspx. For more information on the Guerilla Girls Exhibit visit: https://artbma.org/

1 comment