For JRP, Mai-Thu Perret has chosen to isolate the most important accessory worn by these “Guérillères” sculptures the Kalashnikov gun, to turn the object into a special limited edition. Its militant protagonists find echoes in Perret’s sculptures, which are also informed by the YPJ, a real-world female militia that has been fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war.

The title of the figures is borrowed from a 1969 novel by Monique Wittig that tells the speculative story of a war waged by women to take control of society. This series consisted in a female group composed of stylized figures with readily-identifiable accessories (combat fatigues, military boots, machine guns). On the occasion of a solo show at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in 2016, Mai-Thu Perret presented a new body of work entitled Les Guérillères. The weapon appears as a true symbol of feminist struggle and resistance and explores by its material the strength and fragility alternating the use of pink polyester resin for the weapon and nylon and steel for the strap. Its militant protagonists find echoes in Perret’s sculptures, which are also informed by the YPJ, a real-world female militia that has been fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war.

This series consisted in a female group composed of stylized figures with readily-identifiable accessories (combat fatigues, military boots, machine guns).

Les guerilleres