Is there anything in this world more pure, more heart-achingly soul-bearing, than a handwritten love letter? Well, for those of us who have experienced acts of so-called love-bombing, or had the proverbial rug ripped out from underneath us by false promises and tall orders, you’d be forgiven for a more cynical attitude to romance. However, Rebel Heart, a magnetic new exhibition at the State Library Victoria might crack open the calcified shell of even the most closed-off hearts.
Assembled by a team led by resident curator Georgia Goud, Rebel Heart charts the passion and pain of romantic love through SLV’s archive of soul-baring letters, diaries and rare manuscripts – many of which have been donated by the families of the departed souls whose intimate stories are told.
And as staffing tensions simmer behind the scenes at SLV, this love letter to love letters also showcases the deeply human stories that public libraries serve to protect.
Rebel Heart review – quick links
Historic romances defy the rules of love
The exhibition spans centuries of courageous connections – from same-sex couples in the Victorian era, to a mid-century marriage at odds with the White Australia policy, and devotion discovered outside marriage, across borders, warzones and in online fandoms. These connections are amplified by powerful new music commissions by Australian artists Angie McMahon, Mindy Meng Wang, Mo’Ju and Amos Roach.
A mourning brooch from 1853 holds woven locks of hair from Anne Drysdale and Caroline Newcomb, the ‘gentlewoman farmers’ who lived together on their Victorian farm in the 1840s. Contemporary mourning rings fashioned by artist Drew Pettifer pay tribute to the legendary love story of bushrangers Captain Moonlight and James Nesbitt, who met in Pentridge Prison – another queer couple that historians choose to not merely remember as ‘roommates’.
For the love of art
Elsewhere in the exhibition, an exchange of letters provides an intimate window into the legacy of Australian music icons Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter. Nick Cave shares the love in personally-penned responses to fanmail, including a list of the goth-rock king’s favourite love songs of all time.
Love letters sent by Sidney Nolan to his patron Sunday Reed are on public display for the first time (their affair being one of the worst-kept secrets in Australia’s modern art movement). The adventures of Sydney-born bohemian artist and muse Vali Myers, for whom monogamy felt ‘unnatural’, are also traced through international mail exchanged with various suitors.
Handmade zines trace expressions of lust that fans read into the actions of their pop culture heroes. (And wouldn’t Stark Trek be that much better with some gay kissing?) A case filled with mixtapes stands as a testament to the efforts made by loverboys and lovergirls of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Modern expressions of the rebel heart are catalogued from the trenches of the DMs, a digital wasteland of hopeful shots fired, ghosted reaches for connection and abruptly-worded break-ups. Looking to the future, an unnervingly dystopian new artwork from artist Paul Knight explores the romantic potential of AI.
A labour that AI can’t recreate
In a world where there are people outsourcing their wedding speeches and most intimate communications to the likes of ChatGPT, Rebel Heart is a timely testament to the deeply human nature of love. The path of romance might often be paved with clichés, false starts, miscommunications and the overwhelming, exquisite pain of heartbreak – but damn, however it plays out, that kind of connection is something that cannot be recreated by generative AI in any truly meaningful way.
In its own way, Rebel Heart is also a love letter to the essential purpose of public libraries and librarians – without which, our stories and histories might never be effectively preserved and shared. (Much like a good lover, a good librarian is a role that algorithms alone make a lousy stand-in for.)
The exhibition launched on the same date as State Library Victoria’s 170th anniversary – it’s Australia’s oldest public library, and one of the first free public libraries in the world – but the celebration is a bittersweet one for many.
While public outcry has seemingly put a pause on plans for major staff cuts as part of SLV’s major strategic reorganisation – which would drastically cull the library’s number of reference librarians, collections staff and public access officers – we are also warned that ‘the fight is not over’.
Rebel Heart is just one exhibition in an ongoing program of exciting, engaging and considered cultural offerings designed to draw visitors into the library. This institution really does offer far more than a highly-Instagrammable domed reading room – and long may it continue to honourably uphold the often unsung, detail-oriented work that can only be done by the humans at the heart of the machine.
