Dr. Destiny Deacon (KuKu (Cape York) & Erub/Mer (Torres Strait), Australia)

White Bay Power Station

Dr. Destiny Deacon is from the KuKu and Erub/Mer peoples of the Torres Strait Islands but has lived in Melbourne most of her life. Her multi-disciplinary practice – across photography, film, sculpture, performance and installation – is forged from personal family and community stories that enveloped her urban playground. As well as being an artist, she is also a respected activist, performer, writer and broadcaster. 

Deacon’s intriguing works continually provoke, challenge and reimagine the Aboriginal narrative through the photographic lens. She intuitively engages her audience through an exchange of ideas, stories and approaches to thinking with works that often have a subtle political guise. Using satirical black/blak humour she interrogates and explores the tales, events and imagined lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  

Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous support from a grant from the Open Society Foundations and generous assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.