An online, collaborative project tracking the grassroots punk feminist movement Riot Grrrl around the world.

As of October 2026, at least 200 Riot Grrrl Chapters and Ladyfest events have been documented in 36 countries on six continents. Since the movement’s formation in 1991, multiple generations of chapters have opened in cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Detroit. In the 2000s, chapters formed in locations including Brazil, Costa Rica, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey. Originally created in 2013 for Alien She and updated with the addition of Ladyfest events for the Grrrl Germs exhibition, the Riot Grrrl Map assembles research from various archives, contributors, the public, and the internet.

“Through their Facebook pages and Tumblrs it’s evident that each of the chapters’ missions are a response to their locations, moments, members, and needs; many forefront politics and language that are explicitly intersectional, POC, queer, and trans.”
— Astria Suparak and Ceci Moss, ArtInfo, 2014

If you have information about missing Riot Grrrl chapters and Ladyfest events, or have edits for existing entries, submit details to: https://bit.ly/riotgrrrlsubmissionform

Artforum, “Critics’ Pick: Alien She,” Chelsea Haines, Jan. 14, 2014

Two Web-based elements further strengthen the overall curatorial approach [of the Alien She exhibition]: The Riot Grrrl Census and Riot Grrrl Chapters Map are open-source archives that chart the movement’s temporal and geographic evolution and expansion. It’s a new DIY feminism for the digital age.

Harper’s Bazaar, “Astria Suparak’s Grrrl Germs Maps the World of Riot Grrrl,” Sophie Wang, Oct 7, 2026

Just two or three months before the likes of Stevie Nicks, Chappell Roan, Bikini Kill, and Sarah McLachlan took the Daisy Chain stage and helped raise $20 million for nonprofit partners supporting women and girls, Suparak received the loose brief and got to work. Poring over old music reviews, abandoned Facebook and MySpace pages, and platforms such as Discogs and Bandcamp, she scoured the internet for bands who cited riot grrrl as an inspiration. She spoke with music labels in South Africa and rock clubs in Armenia, tracing the movement’s reach around the world. (And we mean actually mapping it. As part of the exhibit, Suparak expanded an interactive map, begun with “Alien She,” that lets visitors click on locations to learn more about local riot grrrl chapters and Ladyfest gatherings. Visitors can also submit information about chapters missing from the map.)

Los Angeles Times, Times OC, “‘Grrrl Germs’ explores how Riot Grrrl movement spread in O.C. and beyond at Great Park Gallery” Sarah Mosqueda, Sept. 28, 2026

The exhibition also includes a large, color-coded world map on the gallery’s middle wall, which Suparak notes is intentionally not the standard Mercator projection that inaccurately inflates the size of North America and Europe. The map spotlights Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.

An interactive version of the map, tracking how Riot Grrrl spread geographically over time, appears in video form. Suparak began the initial research for the map while co-curating “Alien She,” an exhibition on Riot Grrrl’s impact on contemporary visual artists that came to the Orange County Museum of Art in 2015.

“As I began researching anew for Grrrl Germs, I updated the map with my findings, including Ladyfests, which grew out of Riot Grrrl, 10 additional countries and present-day chapters and activities,” Suparak said. “People can also visit it online, which includes instructions for how to submit a missing chapter or festival.”

O.C.’s movement is also documented.

“In Orange County, I found or heard of at least five Riot Grrrl chapters from 1992, which met at UC Irvine and nearby coffee shops, to 2012 with Grrl Fair in Santa Ana,” Suparak said.

Portland Mercury, “Grrrl in Motion: Alien She,” Marjorie Skinner, Sept. 9, 2015

Culled from a global network of institutional and personal archives, some of the zines and posters for concerts and rallies are under glass, while more notable contributions to the riot grrrl zine culture have been reproduced and are available for reading. Alongside the reading material is a table lined with iPods. Under glass at each docking station are more of the flyers, CD covers, setlists, and scribbled rants that serve as evidence of riot grrrl activity in various regions.

Each iPod’s playlist is authoritatively curated: Mr. Lady Records’ Tammy Rae Carland handles the American South; Team Dresch’s Donna Dresch has the Pacific Northwest covered; Allison Wolfe of Bratmobile/Ladyfest speaks to Washington, DC, and Olympia; andAlien She curators Ceci Moss and Astria Suparak represent their native California. England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Canada are also on hand, and a nearby interactive map shows currently active riot grrrl chapters across the globe.

The connection to the present day is fundamental to the concept of Alien She, which documents a history as it’s being lived.

Take Part, “Too Cool to Be Forgotten: Riot Grrrl Lives On, Two Decades Later,” Jennifer Swann, Feb. 16, 2015

Alien She curators Astria Suparak, former director of the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, and Ceci Moss, assistant curator of visual arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, also launched two research projects that accompany the exhibition. Each leverages technology that didn’t exist at the movement’s birth to provide a more comprehensive look at how Riot Grrrl continues to empower women today.

One of those projects is a crowdsourced Google map that geolocates worldwide Riot Grrrl chapters. Suparak said she and Moss have discovered that since 1991, women’s groups founded on the principles of Riot Grrrl have been formed in 24 countries. Generations of chapters have operated in cities that include Los Angeles, New York, and Detroit. The map also points to newer chapters, from Turkey to Brazil.

“Each of the chapters’ missions are a response to their locations, moments, members, and needs; many forefront politics and language that are explicitly intersectional, POC [people of color], queer, and trans,” Suparak wrote via email. The Riot Grrrl chapter in Kuching, Malaysia, for example, bills itself as a political and radical feminist space “where we can open our eyes and reach out to each other without being threatened by this sexist society.”

The Los Angeles Beat, “Grrrl Germs: Punk Feminism Goes Viral 1991-2026 art show at Great Park Gallery in Irvine,” Lucretia Tye Jasmine, Sept. 25, 2026

There was also a large angular room with documentary footage from Brazil and Nepal, and an animated map showing where various feminist music events and Riot Grrrl chapters happened all over the world. I especially loved the section by the entry with a selection of zines from various parts of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America.