Destiny Deacon HonFRPS was an Australian photographer, broadcaster, political activist and media artist.
17 Facts About Destiny Deacon
1.
2.
Destiny Deacon exhibited photographs and films across Australia and internationally, focusing on politics and exposing the disparagement around Australian Aboriginal cultures.
3.
Destiny Deacon was credited with introducing the term "Blak" to refer to Indigenous Australians' contemporary art, culture and history.
4.
Destiny Deacon had 6 siblings, 4 from her mother's other relationship.
5.
However, instead of pursuing photography, Destiny Deacon decided to attend university and study politics, a field that her mother had been very active within, being involved with the United Council of Aboriginal Women.
6.
Destiny Deacon worked across a spectrum of different mediums including photography, video, installation and performance, but the one she was most noted for was her use of dolls to convey her message about the racism that exists within Australia.
7.
Destiny Deacon stated that she removed the 'c' from 'black' in resistance to the slur "black cunt", which she had heard shouted at her growing up.
8.
Destiny Deacon herself said that it was "taking on the 'colonisers' language and flipping it on its head", as an expression of authentic urban Aboriginal identity.
9.
Destiny Deacon's first show, "Pitcha Mi Koori", was a part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and in 1991, her work was included in Aboriginal Women's Exhibition, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
10.
In 1998, Destiny Deacon explored her mother's life by photographing her family in the Torres Strait Islands after her death two years earlier, documenting it in a show titled "Postcards from Mummy".
11.
Destiny Deacon was the director of the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in 2010.
12.
Destiny Deacon was a staff member of the RMIT School of Art from 1999 to 2012.
13.
Destiny Deacon's work was featured in numerous local and international exhibitions such as Perspecta, Havana Biennial, Johannesburg Biennale, Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Melbourne International Biennial, Biennale of Sydney, Yokohama Triennale, Das Lied von der Erde by Peter George d'Angelino Tap, Documenta 11, the Salzburger Kunstverein and most recently the Sharjah Biennial.
14.
For 2004: Australian Culture Now at the ACMI in Melbourne, Destiny Deacon was commissioned to make a film for the programme Neighbours.
15.
In September 2009, Destiny Deacon was awarded the Clemenger Contemporary Art Award.
16.
In 2022, Destiny Deacon was awarded the Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society.
17.
Destiny Deacon died after a long illness in Melbourne on 23 May 2024, aged 67.