Rebel Heart: Love letters and other declarations is now open daily with free entry at State Library Victoria
In 2009, someone found a letter tucked behind a painting on display at State Library Victoria — and it contained an unrequited love story that had been hiding there for years.
That letter, written between two people known only as Man and XiangYa, is now one of the centrepieces of Rebel Heart: Love letters and other declarations, the library’s major new exhibition exploring centuries of romantic defiance through its archive of personal letters, private diaries and rare manuscripts.
Rebel Heart: Love letters and other declarations
- Keith Murdoch Gallery, State Library Victoria
- Open daily from 12 February
- Free entry
- slv.vic.gov.au
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Rebel Heart is free to visit daily in the Keith Murdoch Gallery and brings together stories of love that pushed hard against the social conventions of its time. Chinese-Australian artist Mindy Meng Wang has created a new music commission inspired by the hidden letter, giving it a second life alongside commissions from Angie McMahon, Mo’Ju and Amos Roach.
The exhibition stretches across eras and well beyond that single discovery. It traces same-sex couples in the Victorian era, a mid-century marriage that clashed with the White Australia policy, and devotion that crossed borders and defied institutions.
Four different stories
Each of the four music commissions responds to a different story from the collection. McMahon’s piece draws on the diaries of Anne Drysdale, one half of the “gentlewoman farmers” who lived together on their property in the 1840s — now considered one of the library’s earliest queer stories. Wiradyuri-Filipinx artist Mo’Ju takes on letters written by Aileen McColl to Minister for Immigration Harold Holt, pleading for her Filipino husband Agapito Castillo to be allowed to return to his family in Melbourne under the White Australia policy. Amos Roach has created a piece honouring his parents, Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, members of the Stolen Generations who met as teenagers sleeping rough and went on to become ARIA award-winners.
From bushrangers to Sidney Nolan
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Other stories include bushrangers Captain Moonlight and James Nesbitt, who met inside Pentridge Prison and remained together until Nesbitt died in Moonlight’s arms during a shoot-out. The exhibition also features never-before-seen letters by Sidney Nolan written to his lover Sunday Reed, and modern expressions of romance ranging from mixtapes and DMs to Taylor Swift friendship bracelets from the 2024 Eras Tour in Melbourne.
Rebel Heart reaches into the future too, exploring AI relationships, fandoms and fan fiction as part of its look at how people search for connection across different eras. A companion events program includes Love and Art, a series of intimate evenings with local creatives, kicking off with The Huxleys on 5 March. The exhibition marks State Library Victoria’s 170th anniversary.
For more information, head here.
