Destiny Deacon

Destiny Deacon’s wicked humour, poignant politics and ongoing international exposure are distilled into this, her first major museum project in Australia. Bringing together works spanning ten years, as well as new work created especially for the MCA, this exhibition combines different aspects of Deacon’s practice – photography, video, installation and performance. Described as one of Australia’s leading Indigenous political artists, Deacon uses objects and photographs to explore issues such as race, gender and sexuality within contemporary Australia society from a Koori perspective. Her use of wit and irony - what the artist herself might term 'Blak' humour – skilfully subverts and satirises patronising clichés about Aboriginality. Underlying her wickedly funny images, as guest curator Natalie King notes, is an astute awareness of politics of representation and its implications for Indigenous people. Deacon draws widely from suburban culture, but also from personal experience, inventively using what she describes as ‘low-tech’ and ‘low-budget’ tools and techniques. In several works she has used kitsch souvenirs, knicknacks and black ‘dollies’ depicting Aboriginal people, the kind especially popular in Australia in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Rather than rejecting these objects as offensive Deacon delights in exposing their original meanings. Sponsored by American Express Free admission – thanks Telstra! This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of MCA Ambassadors. Pressetext

Destiny Deacon