On our Textiles trip to South Kensington we visited the DIVA exhibition at the V&A museum where we learned that the term Diva can hold a whole range of meanings.

Covering opera, film, the stage and music, the exhibition showed a huge range of iconic performers from the 19th century through to present day pop culture eg. Cher, Tina Turner, Lady Gaga, Shirley Bassey and Elton John. It showed us how artists regardless of gender have challenged the norms and pushed the boundaries of their art. 

For our A level project we have been focusing on the theme of distortion and we were interested to explore aspects of this during our visit, looking for examples in shape, silhouette and use of fabric. We were really excited to study Rihanna’s Met Gala looks up close and enjoyed sketching our favourite pieces from the exhibition. 

One of highlights of the exhibition was learning about the four waves of feminism and how these connected with the media, society and politics as well as literature.We also had time to explore some of the museum’s other exhibits including the beautiful jewellery gallery which was amazing! 

Meg and Sahki, Lower VI