Originating from the Aboriginal nations of Kuku (northern Australia) and Erub/Mer (Torres Strait), Destiny Deacon grew up in Melbourne where she worked as a teacher, hosted radio shows and wrote scripts for television series. Self-taught, she has been practising photography and video since the 1980s. Through deliberately ambiguous scenarios, she explores notions of race, sexuality and gender, and the denigration and violence that have marked Australia’s history (Forced Into Images, 2002; Tax Free Kangaroos, 1992). The artist stages dolls, tourist objects, Chinese ornaments and costumes in various situations as metaphors of contemporary life to denounce the Western stereotypes projected onto the Aboriginal people (Blak Lik Mi, 1991; I Seen Myself, 1991).

These scenarios evoke complex emotions that intertwine with each new vignette, composing entertaining and provocative stories (Dreaming in Urban Areas, 1993). Gender issues are also addressed. For example, in Draclubra (1998), where she associates the figure of Dracula with the word lubra, which means “woman” in one of the 250 Aboriginal languages. For many years, Deacon has collaborated with artist and writer Virginia Fraser to create installations and videos that explore racism and stereotypes. In 1991, she invented a variation of the word black for the Blak Lik Mi series. By choosing to describe herself as blak, the artist decided to use the language of the colonisers and to present herself in a process of self-determination and self-expression, a practice common to many urban artists.