DIVA, the inaugural exhibition of the Australian Museum of Performing Arts, examines the etymology of excellence. Derived from the Latin for goddess, like many a shapeshifting immortal, the word ‘diva’ has transmogrified over the millennia.
Brought from mythology into the suitably dramatic world of opera, from there spiralling across the arts, the term twisted from veneration of the sublime to an accusation of stroppiness and back again.
As centuries of feminists would note, there will always be those who come for matriarchal strength. Or, as All About Eve and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane star Bette Davis put it: ‘When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.’
A collaboration between Arts Centre Melbourne and London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, DIVA celebrates iconic figures and includes over 250 objects, including costumes, jewellery and archival material.
DIVA review – quick links
All the lovers
AMPA has staked a claim on the riverside corner of Hamer Hall nearest St Kilda Road, where Fatto Bar & Cantina once stood. Inside, that line from Davis is traced in black on a white wall at the heart of DIVA.
But first, on passing through a red velvet curtain at the entrance to this temple, you’ll encounter a stunning red silk dress worn by Yorta Yorta soprano, composer and playwright Deborah Cheetham Fraillon.
A magnificent welcome, the gown, a collaboration with Linda Britten, is accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of Cheetham Fraillon, acknowledging that powerful First Nations women have spun stories and sung songs on these lands for thousands of years. A child of the Stolen Generations, the out-and-proud star went on to found Short Black Opera and gift the world Pecan Summer.
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ACM curator Margot Anderson has taken great care to fold local history into this touring exhibition, originated by V&A’s Kate Bailey. Requisite dues are paid to Cheetham Fraillon’s companions in the operatic artform, Dames Nellie Melba and Joan Sutherland.
You can spy a photo of Melba giving one of the first live radio opera performances in 1922. But if divas do occasionally upstage one another, as is their right, then the bloody nightgown worn by Sutherland in the Australian Opera’s 1980 staging of Lucia di Lammermoor is an unashamed scene-stealer.
Opera, of course, gave birth to pop and fusions thereof, so it would be remiss of the Australian contingent not to include the late Olivia Newton-John and our gift to London, Kylie. (The Minogue is optional.)
Brian Rennie and Perry Meek’s rhinestone-clad biker jacket, a nod to Sandy’s ‘bad girl’ makeover in Grease, hails from Newton-John’s Vegas residence and stands next to her custom-made turquoise baby grand piano.
Just across the way, raised high on a podium like a classical statue, is Kylie’s blood red Padam Padam catsuit, designed by Thierry Mugler and paired with those eye-popping, thigh-high laced boots from Maison Ernest.
DIVA takes in generations of stars
The decades ebb and flow as you make your way through DIVA. One moment you’re admiring the majesty of mighty Black vaudeville dancer, singer and film star-turned-resistance fighter Josephine Baker. The next, there’s Australian post-punk idol and Divinyls frontwoman Chrissie Amphlett, surrounded by a sea of sun-struck faces.
There’s Amyl and the Sniffers hero Amy Taylor’s whoopee cushion bikini, designed by Andie Wheeler, next to fab fits from Meow Meow and Reuben Kay. (More on that later.)
You turn a corner and face pioneering dancer and choreographer, Isadora Duncan. You might even, as I did, momentarily mistake Tina Arena in Evita as Wicked star Ariana Grande. Let’s chalk that snafu up to those shapeshifting goddesses.
Tying in nicely to the NVG’s spectacular Westwood / Kawakubo exhibition next door, there’s a stunning outfit worn by Adele for the cover of British Vogue, designed by the late English fashion designer.
Circling back to home, Cate Blanchett’s costume from the lead role of Sydney Theatre Company’s 2004 production of Hedda Gabler, designed by Kristian Fredrikson, holds court. As do Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner, Shirley Bassey, Björk and Lady Gaga.
Diva is a defiantly non-binary term, hence Kaye’s ruffled pink dress from his cabaret show The Butch is Back, bearing his own face on the butt – and what’s more diva than that? He’s joined by the likes of fellow gender-expanders Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Lil Nas X and Prince. A black and white photo of the symbol star in action appears to look longingly at himself on the album cover of Love Symbol, as if Narcissus.
Goddesses of the stage
Mythology runs through DIVA, where the triple goddess becomes an intriguing triumvirate with Edith Piaf, Dusty Springfield and Britney Spears, who stand united. Egyptian iconography gleams, with Elizabeth Taylor on a film poster for Cleopatra, as well as Cher’s 1974 Met Gala look, designed by Bob Mackie.
Travelling through African history in a heartbeat, you’ll also encounter a striking photo of Leontyne Price, the ground-breaking African-American soprano, as Ethiopian princess, Aida, as well as images of Miriam Makeba and a golden headpiece worn by Beyoncé, designed by Vicki Sarge to evoke Oshun, the Yoruba goddess of love, fertility and water.
Goddesses shimmer and fuse, with Andy Warhol’s immortal silkscreen print of Marilyn Monroe appearing to manifest Madonna, moments later, wearing Mackie for Vanity Fair.
An overwhelming number of divas glimmer in DIVA, with Madonna’s Vogue lyrics circling back to Greta Garbo, Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and more.
From Vivien Leigh, Joan Crawford and Judy Garland, and on to Grace Jones, Janet Jackson and Janelle Monae’s vulva pants, as designed by Duran Lantink, it’s a dance through eternity, where joy is born.
