Agitate: Radical Women We Love

Introducing Some of Our Favorite Female Troublemakers (Dressed Drastically)

By Kim Hastreiter

Photographed by Cass Bird

We gathered this amazing group of some of the most fearless creative women we could find -- females who have built their careers on shocking, agitating and raising hell in order to communicate their ideas. Whether they use art, words, music or performance as their medium, these radical women express themselves in ways that often cause cultural chaos but also create awareness and change. They deserve our great respect and gratitude for forcing us out of our complacency. kim hastreiter


		DIAMANDA GALAS is a composer, singer and performance artist whose work deals with issues such as AIDS, depression and torture. She will perform her latest work, Defixiones, Orders from the Dead at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University in New York City on September 8th and 10th. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT WE HAVE EVER DONE is to decide to become a musician, which has exposed me to a world of illiteracy and cowardice. ON FASHION: It can be art at its best. Thierry Mugler's work, much of which was designed to be worn by female performers, has been visionary and genius. click to enlarge image

		JD SAMSON is a singer, songwriter and musician and is one third of the feminist punk band Le Tigre. She is also the cofounder of an activist group called Dykes Can Dance. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT I HAVE EVER DONE was writing a song about butch-lesbian visibility, putting it out on a major label and playing it to people all over the world. ON FASHION: I've reached my fashion plateau because I can't seem to get a new kind of jeans or pair of glasses. Maybe I will look this way forever.... click to enlarge image

		VANESSA BEECROFT is an artist who produces performances primarily with women of all races, nude or semidressed, standing at attention and at ease in museums of contemporary art and art institutions, documenting them through photography and film. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT WE HAVE EVER DONE is to exhibit the military (the U.S. Navy Seals) in a museum in San Diego. It would have been more radical to have them drop their weapons and quit their jobs afterward, but it didn't happen. ON FASHION: It's depressing to see anxious-looking women in magazines wrapped in the wrong package, with earrings hanging, straight blond hair and tiny shoes or handbags. Even women with personality, whom you respect, can end up looking like Barbie dolls. Someone has to tell them they don't have to dye their hair or dress properly for us to like them. click to enlarge image

		AGATHE SNOW is a filmmaker, dancer and an amazing cook. She is currently working on a film project, which she will begin shooting at Art Basel in Miami in December. She is also collaborating on various projects with Rita Ackerman, As Four, Disciple Films, Reena Spaulings, Anything and Valerie Filipovna. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT I HAVE EVER DONE happens in my life on an everyday basis. Everything I do is radical. ON FASHION: I love clothes, shoes and accessories. I love packaging and versatility and being part of an everlasting masquerade. click to enlarge image

		FRIDA KAHLO is a founding member of the Guerrilla Girls, a group of female artists who have dedicated themselves to exposing sexism and racism in politics and the art world since 1985, through posters, stickers, protest actions and humor. Preferring anonymity, members take on pseudonyms of deceased female artists and appear wearing gorilla masks when in public. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT WE HAVE EVER DONE recently was to don high heels for this photo shoot. ON FASHION: Wearing mile-high footwear might make a girl look like she can kick butt, but we believe it's really another way to keep women in their place! click to enlarge image

		KAREN FINLEY is an artist whose powerful installations and performances about her political and feminist views have become legendary. Best known for shocking audiences with scatological activities and going to the Supreme Court after losing her NEA funding because of her radical views, she's currently working on a new performance entitled The Passion of Terry Schiavo and the Dreams of Laura Bush and finishing her upcoming book George and Martha (Verso), in which she imagines an affair between George Bush and Martha Stewart. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT WE HAVE EVER DONE was when I was involved in a Supreme Court case about the public funding of the arts. ON FASHION: This is a wonderful way to walk around and display your individuality so your body becomes a walking piece of art. click to enlarge image

		PERIEL ASCHENBRAND is the author of the book The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own (Tarcher/Penguin) and founder/designer of Body as Billboard, a nonprofit company that produces T-shirts with edgy, smart slogans calling attention to global issues such as violence against women, crystal-meth abuse, AIDS and gay marriage. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT WE HAVE EVER DONE was convincing my publisher that it was a good idea to let me pose naked on the cover of my first book. ON FASHION: Vivienne Westwood once said, "The only reason I'm in fashion is to destroy the word 'conformity.'" This is my mantra. click to enlarge image

		K8 HARDY is a performance and video artist and a member of the collective LTTR, who produce a queer-feminist art journal and other projects. She recently collaborated on a show called "New Report" with artist Wynne Greenwood at Reena Spaulings Fine Art in New York and has had a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Bilbao in the Project Room. THE MOST RADICAL THING THAT WE HAVE EVER DONE is living as an anticapitalist, feminist-lesbian culture creator dismantling the patriarchy. ON FASHION: I love fashion, but I hate luxury. click to enlarge image