THEY'RE among the world's most famous activists, yet their identities have remained a secret for more than 25 years.

Two of the founding members of New York-based feminist art activists Guerrilla Girls are in Melbourne this week to discuss their philosophy and their campaign against the art world in a special one-off public talk at VCA's School of Art.

Founding members of art activist group Guerrilla Girls, Kathe Kollwitz and Frida Kahlo, at the Victorian College of the Arts. Credit:Justin McManus

The self-styled masked activists formed in 1985 in response to an exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art which showcased 169 artists, of whom only 17 were women. The exhibition's curator had stated: ''Any artist who is not in my show should rethink his career.''

The Guerrilla Girls, whose numbers change over the years and who are mostly artists (some reportedly of some renown) themselves, protested the curator's statement with posters hung around New York highlighting discrimination in the male-dominated art world.