CULTURE
The V&A’s newest exhibition, DIVA, celebrates the power and creativity of the world’s most iconic performers, past and present. Lead curator Kate Bailey talks Georgia Green through its conception
‘Something that surprised me, although maybe it shouldn’t have, is that every diva has had a struggle,’ says Kate Bailey, lead curator of the V&A’s latest exhibition – appropriately, and simply, named DIVA. One example is ‘America’s sweetheart’ Mary Pickford, the silent movie actor who defied the patriarchal confines of her industry by establishing her own production company to gain control over her life. As are the original European opera divas of the 19th century – exceptionally talented prima donnas who became so famous they were considered goddess-like by the public and critics alike. They all hold their place in the gallery’s exhibition, which showcases more than 250 artefacts, from Sade’s hand-written lyrics for Immigrant to the throat spray Édith Piaf carried in her handbag.
Bailey began working on DIVA in 2017 when, in the midst of curating the V&A’s Opera: Passion, Power And Politics exhibition, she became ‘fascinated’ with the original divas of opera. ‘There aren’t many words that you can drop into most languages, continents and cultures that mean something, but “diva” is one of those, and these women, who were considered goddesses, paved the way for all the other greats to come,’ she explains. Their journeys weren’t without hardship, however. During Bailey’s extensive research, she observed positive and negative shifts in our cultural perception of the term ‘diva’ that she says are mirrored in the timing of the first, second, third and fourth waves of feminism: ‘With each one, you see a surge of power, independence and freedom for women – and then a backlash.’
Consequently, the exhibition explores how the term has been redefined at different moments across time and genre, beginning with the pioneers; from Spanish-born Italian opera singer Adelina Patti, whose desire to perfect her craft was conflated with being difficult and demanding, to the famous divas of the 21st century: the Rihannas, Madonnas, Beyoncés, Gagas and Mariahs. ‘We didn’t want to simply create a
