Racism, sexism and discrimination in the arts was the focus of the Guerrilla Girls presentation Friday night in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Hiding their identities behind furry gorilla masks, the Guerrilla Girls entered the Sun Room to a crowd of more than 300 people,.

The Guerrilla Girls then presented a slide show representing their artistic activism.

The weapons of choice for the Guerrilla Girls are posters they place all over New York City, which is “the heart of the art world,” according to the Guerrilla Girls.

The women involved in the Guerilla Girls began their activism in 1985. Many of them are artists who use pseudonyms of never-recognized women artists.

The Guerrilla Girls decided they wanted to keep their identities unknown to “keep the issues pure.”

They chose their disguises by accident.

When the members of the group went to a store and asked for guerrilla masks, meaning freedom fighters, they were misunderstood and given gorilla masks.

The mistake opened new ideas and gave them a way they could keep their work lighthearted while still making an impact, they said.

One of the Guerrilla Girls goes by Alma, after Alma Thomas, an African-American painter and high school art teacher.

“I wanted to honor her because I, too, am a black woman artist,” Guerrilla Girl Alma said.

The posters used by the Guerrilla Girls vary in content. Some of them create a serious mood, while others use humor.

One of the posters read, “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5 percent of the artists in the Modern Art Sections are women, but 85 percent of the nudes are female.”

“This shows how you can be effective by mocking your oppressor rather than attacking them,” Alma explained.

Another poster, more serious in nature, cited the 1987 Art in America Annual as saying only four commercial galleries in New York display the art of black women.

A third poster listed the names of galleries that feature no more than 10 percent women artists, or none at all.

The Guerrilla Girls said they have gotten their message out to many people and have gained much support over the past 12 years.

“We are proof of what you can accomplish with very little,” Alma said.

“This is a great alternative perspective to these issues. Everything they said can be taken out of the art context and applied to our culture,” said Sharon Haselhoff, chair of Women’s Week.

The Guerrilla Girls have just finished their second book, titled “A Guerrilla Girls Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art.”

Many of their posters can also be found on the World Wide Web.