Feared and Revered, the National Museum of Australia's summer blockbuster from the British Museum examines feminine power throughout history

While one may seem out of place when listed alongside the others, it's a great example of how the museum's latest blockbuster, set to open on Thursday, examines thousands of years of feminine power.

Feared and Revered: Feminine Power through the Ages is the latest exhibition from the British Museum to make its way to the National Museum of Australia and takes a cross-cultural look at the importance and influence of the power and diversity of female spiritual beings from the ancient world to the present day.

Alongside the more than 160 objects from the British Museum's collection, several Australian objects, including Minogue's costume from her Aphrodite: Les Folies tour and objects featuring the female ancestral figures, the yawkyawk from Western Arnhem Land, have been added to the exhibition's original iteration.

"There is such a diverse range of female beings - we go from the famous like Aphrodite and Venus and Medusa to other perhaps lesser known examples to some people, such as the yawkyawk, which is a female ancestral spirit from Western Arnhem Land," National Museum of Australia curator Cheryl Crilly said.

"This ancestral spirit tends to inhabit freshwater streams and billabongs and is closely associated with fertility and conception. And from a western perspective, they're often compared to mermaids because they have the torso and the head of a female, and the tail of a fish.

"But it is a cross-cultural exhibition. It's a celebration and exploration of a diverse range of female spirits from the ancient world to the present day. So there's this fabulous line-up of goddesses, spirits, saints, witches and demons, all who have inherent characteristics and exhibit feminine power in some way, and connect with those themes of female power, authority, and representation, which are all themes that are relevant to the current cultural debate."

The exhibition started its development in 2013 when British Museum curator Belinda Crerar began looking through the institution's collection to create an exhibition that focused on the representation of female stories throughout history - a topic she said a lot of museums and galleries were starting to look at after years of gender imbalance.

The result was an exhibition divided into five themes - creation and nature, passion and desire, magic and malice, joystick and defence, and compassion and salvation.

MUST READS:

Objects include large Egyptian, Middle Eastern and Greek statues, figures and pottery from the Ancient Greek world, Indian relief carvings and figures, Roman coins and an incantation bowl and a magical gem for protecting against the demon Lilith.

"One of the main aspects of the exhibition, which I'm hoping people get out of it, is to think about many different ways that female identity has been framed in different cultures, both in the past and today," Dr Crerar said.

"Looking back in history can be very eye-opening, in illuminating how beliefs and traditions change and evolve and adapt over time. And it makes us more aware that these sorts of beliefs that we may hold today as a society are part of evolution are part of a change process. They're not fixed, they're not static, and it is possible to reassess our values and our customs."

Feared and Revered is at the National Museum of Australia until August 27.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: