fierce pussy
fierce pussy is a collective of queer women artists formed in New York City in 1991 through their immersion in AIDS activism during a decade of increasing political mobilization around gay rights. All core members were involved in ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) to fight the AIDS pandemic, bringing lesbian identity and visibility directly into the streets through guerrilla-style poster campaigns and public interventions.
The four original core members—Nancy Brooks Brody (1962–2023), Joy Episalla, Zoe Leonard, and Carrie Yamaoka—continue to work together, joined at various times by a fluid and shifting cadre including Pam Brandt, Jean Carlomusto, Donna Evans, Alison Froling, and Suzanne Wright. Low-tech and low-budget, the collective responded to the urgency of those years using readily available resources: old typewriters, found photographs, their own baby pictures, and printing supplies accessible in their day jobs.
This publication compiles 39 posters spanning from works made during the urgent early days of the AIDS crisis through present-day advocacy for Queer and Trans rights. The spiral-bound design allows readers to tear out any poster to share, wheatpaste, scan, photocopy, and distribute—honoring the collective's original street-based practice. This expanded edition includes 25 additional posters beyond the 2008 Printed Matter original (which featured 14 posters).
fierce pussy's iconic projects included wheat-pasting posters throughout New York City, renaming streets after prominent lesbian heroines, re-designing the restroom at the LGBT Community Center, and distributing stickers and t-shirts. While most active between 1991 and 1995, the collective reformed in 2008 and continues to exhibit as historic examples of AIDS-related art and lesbian-identified art. Their work is held in the International Center of Photography collection and has been featured in major exhibitions including "AND SO ARE YOU" at Leslie Lohman Museum (2018) and "For The Record" at Visual AIDS/Printed Matter (2013).