Art Term

PESTS

PESTS was an anonymous protest and pressure group of artists operating in New York in the 1980s who aimed to expose the discrimination, exclusion and tokenism directed towards artists from racial minorities by commercial galleries and public museums

Much of the art produced by PESTS was in the form of ephemera, flyers, posters and brochures in which they would highlight examples of racial discrimination. An example of their production is the flyer with the text ‘THERE ARE AT LEAST 11,009* ARTISTS OF COLOR IN NEW YORK. WHY DON’T YOU SEE US?’. Their logo was a wasp with an elongated jaw and they printed this image on all their publications.

None of the members have ever identified themselves, although it is thought a member of the Guerrilla Girls founded the group.

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