fierce pussy (formed 1991, NYC) is an artist/activist collective advancing a radical queer and feminist position through a variety of interventions in public spaces. Four of the original founding members —Nancy Brooks Brody, Joy Episalla, Zoe Leonard and Carrie Yamaoka— continue to work together. Often our projects/actions have been realized without outside sponsorship, funding or authorization. This CV only reflects our engagements in more formal art spaces. More information on the full scope of our work is available on the projects page.
Solo Exhibitions
2009
Mining The Archive, fierce pussy at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, Brooklyn, NYC
2008
fierce pussy, Printed Matter, NYC
Selected Exhibitions & Projects
2016
Transmission, an artist project published in Artforum, June issue
Art AIDS America, Bronx Museum of the Arts, NYC
2015
Greater New York 2015, curated by Douglas Crimp, Peter Eleey, Thomas J. Lax, Mia Locks, MoMA PS1, NYC
Read My Lips, curated by Miguel Lopez, TEOR/Оtica, San Jose, Costa Rica
Art AIDS America, curated by Rock Hushka & Jonathan David Katz, Tacoma Art Museum, WA (catalog)
2014
Pictures, Before & After – An Exhibition for Douglas Crimp, Daniel Buchholz Gallery, Cologne, DE
Art & Activism: Kunst Und Politisher Aktivismus In NY, Mannheimer Kunstverein, DE
2013
For The Record, World AIDS DAY project for Visual AIDS, Printed Matter, NYC
2012
Carnal Knowledge: Sex & Philosophy, Leslie Tonkonow + Artworks Projects l NYC
2010
Get Up Everybody & Sing; an installation commissioned for ACT UP New York: Activism, Art & the AIDS Crisis, 1987-1993, White Columns, NYC
2009
ACT UP New York: Activism, Art & the AIDS Crisis, 1987-1993, curated by Helen Molesworth & Claire Grace, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Tainted Love, curated by Steven Lam & Virginia Solomon, featuring Gutter in Extra Place alley, LaMama Gallery, NYC
Then and Now, permanent installation in the gender-neutral bathroom at The LGBT Community Center, NYC
En Todas Partes-- Politicas de la Diversidad Sexual en el Arte, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporenea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
2008
Pink and Bent, Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, NYC
Break the Rules, Mannheimer Kunstverein, curated by Hieber/Theising, Mannheim, DE (catalog)
1996
Gender,fucked, COCA Seattle, WA
Counterculture: Alternative Information from the Underground Press to the Internet, Exit Art, NYC
Graphic Responses to AIDS, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
1994
Outhouses, NY Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, NYC
Becoming Visible: The Legacy of Stonewall, New York Public Library, New York City
Underbelly: Dyke Art, Iconography, and Culture, University of Minnesota, MN
Silence=Death; Kunst und AIDS in New York, Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden, DE
1993
1920, Exit Art, NYC
Silence=Death; Kunst und AIDS in New York, Staadtmuseum, Munich, DE
Boycott Colorado, organized by Simon Watson, New Museum, NYC
DAM and fierce pussy, curated by Lutz Heiber and Gisela Theising, Liebenizhaus, Hannover, DE
1992
Plakate, Graz Kunstverein, Graz, Austria, traveled to Moderna Galerija, Ljubljiana, Slovenia
Turn Out, Pyramid Club, NYC
Ethics and Aesthetics in the Age of AIDS, Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany and Kunstmuseum Lucerne, Switzerland
A Celebration of the Demise of the N.E.A., Public Funding and Art As We Know It!, benefit, ABC No Rio, NYC
1991
Outrageous Desire, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
From Perversity to Diversity, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Queer, Minor Injury Gallery, NYC
Grants & Residencies
2010
Denniston Hill, Glen Wild, NY
2009
Lesbian Herstory Archives Residency, Brooklyn, NYC
1995
ArtMatters fellowship, NYC
Selected Reviews & Publications
2016
David J. Getsy, “Queer” anthology, Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art, Published by MIT Press
Kate Eichhorn, “Adjusted Margin: Xerography, Art, and Activism In The late Twentieth Century,” MIT Press
2015
Cotter, Hotter, “At ‘Greater New York,’ Rising Art Stars Meet the Old School,” The New York Times, Oct. 15, C23, & illus.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/arts/design/at-greater-new-york-rising-art-stars-meet-the-old-school.html?ref=arts&_r=2
Andrew Stefan Weiner, “Greater New York”, art agenda, Oct. 13, http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/greater-new-york/
“Art AIDS America,” catalog, Jonathan David Katz & Rock Hushka, published by University of Washington Press
Aperture, “Queer”, Spring 2015
2013
Atlantica, Published by Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Canary Islands
2011
Capricious, Issue #12 Protest, Curated by Emily Roysdon, May
2010
Time Out NYC
ACT UP New York, 1987-1993: Activism Art and the AIDS Crisis (exhibition catalogue), Martabel Wasserman, Harvard College, pp. 5, 8, 9, illus, pp. 4, 42-43, 49.
General Idea: Image Virus, Gregg Bordowitz, in Afterall, 2010. pg. 94,103-104, 100 Illus.
Justin Bond / Jackie Curtis, Hilton Als, After Dark Publishing, illus. pp. 26-27
Goings On About Town: Art, The New Yorker, October 11
2009
Lutz Hieber & Stephan Moebius, Avantgarden Und Politik, Kunstlerischer Aktivismus von Dada bis zur Postmoderne, published by Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek, pp. 185- 201, illus.
2008
FIERCE PUSSY, Printed Matter, New York City
Break the Rules, catalog, Lutz Hieber & Gisela Theising, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim, DE
Ful magazine no.2, illus. and article p.4, September
2001
Fierce Pussies and Lesbian Avengers, by Ann Cvetkovich, Feminist Consequences: Theory for the New Century, Elisabeth Bronfen and Misha Kavka, editors. Columbia University Press
2000
Lesbian Art in America: A Contemporary History, by Harmony Hammond, Rizzoli International Publications, illus.
1996
Damn Fine Art, Cherry Smyth, Cassell, London.
Lesbians are So Chic, Laura Cottingham, ed. Cassell, London.
1995
The Question of Equality; Lesbian and Gay Politics in America Since Stonewall, David Deitcher, ed. Scribner, illus. pg. 85.
1994
How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?, Laura Cottingham, 60% Solution,.
Guest Room, Paper Magazine, June.
Lesben Leben, Spinnen? spinnen? SPINNEN!, Germany.
Tempest in a Tearoom, New York Native, David Hirsh, March 14.
The Highs and Lows of 1993, Ms. Magazine, January/February.
1993
SILENCE=DEATH; Kunst und AIDS in New York (exhibition catalogue) Hannoversch AIDS-Hilfe.
1992
Provocation and Pride, David Hirsh, New York Native, January.
Angry Graphics, Karrie Jacobs and Steven Heller, Penguin Smith Books.
Der Spiegel 22/1992, “Die Wollust brüllt”.
Plakate, Grazer Kunstverein, poster and exhibition catalogue.
Movement Research Performance Journal, Winter/Spring #4, front cover illus.
1991
Fierce Pussy Collective Wages War on the ‘Heterosexual Crap We See Everyday’, Bay Area Reporter, David Hirsh, Dec. 19
Lectures
2014
Activism, Art & AIDS: fierce pussy & GRAN FURY, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2012
fierce pussy, The Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice, Union Theological Seminary, NYC
2009
fierce pussy, Women's Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Public Collections
Camp Sister Spirit, Mississippi
Lesbian Herstory Archives, NY
New York Public Library
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England