Vale: Destiny Deacon

Tue 28 May 2024

The ongoing impact of Destiny Deacon’s influence and legacy on the landscape of Australian art and culture is vast.

As a seminal figure in the creative industries since the 1990s, Destiny is credited with coining the term ‘blak’ in the series blak lik mi (1991-2003), a haunting triptych of polaroid originals with the caricatured faces of Aboriginal women. Always one to play with humour, pop culture and the sublime but often mundane suburban, dropping the ‘c’ has become part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vernacular for many, to differentiate the Australian First People’s use of ‘black’ from other First Nations and People of Colour in our increasingly global society. Today, an autonomous use of the collective term ‘blak’ is seen on t-shirts, earrings, tote bags, car stickers and even academic papers — it’s everywhere.

Destiny Deacon ‘Portrait – Eva Johnson, writer’ 1994

However, this is hardly the extent of her legacy — her ‘Koori kitsch’ polaroids, photographs, installations and video works have trailblazed the contemporary Indigenous art world in her repurposing and reclamation of self-representation. Her dry wit and humour critically engage with social narratives and attitudes towards this continent’s First Nations peoples, while giving us tongue-in-cheek punchlines catering for her main audience — her blak communities. Their playfulness disarms the audience, seeking to disrupt the dehumanisation of her kin.

Destiny was born in Maryborough, Queensland in 1957 to a Kuku (Far North Queensland), Mer and Erub (Zenadth Kes) family, however lived much of her life as a koori in Melbourne where she passed away in late May. She grew up in a household where politics and society were avidly discussed, with her mother’s active role in the Aboriginal Advancement League setting the foundations for the activist streak throughout her life and later work in education. Seeing the power of knowledge, she completed a Bachelor of Arts, then a Diploma of Education, before dedicating herself as an educator at secondary and Aboriginal community schools in Victoria. This led to a career as a university tutor, then lecturer, before she was finally enticed to create her own artworks that explored the very themes that were discussed around the dinner table as a child.

Destiny Deacon ‘Knuckle sandwich’ 1998

Her work and life will forever be celebrated for her participation in many national and international exhibitions, especially the major retrospectives ‘Destiny’ at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2020), ‘Walk & don’t look blak’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2004, touring internationally), ‘Postcards from Mummy’, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (1998, touring nationally), and ‘My Boomerang Won’t Come Back’, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide (1994, touring to Aotearoa New Zealand). Her exemplary humour can be seen peeking through the titles of many of these surveys.

Destiny was one of the few Australian Indigenous artists to be acknowledged and shown in major critical exhibitions internationally since the 1990s, including ‘Documenta 11’ (2002) Kassell, Germany; ‘Yokohama Triennale’ (2001) Japan; the first ‘Johannesburg Biennale’, South Africa (1995) and as far as Cuba in the fifth ‘Havana Biennial’ (1994). Her work has gleamed in important exhibitions which raised the profile of Indigenous art nationally, including QAGOMA’s own ‘My Country: I Still Call Australia Home’ (2013), ‘Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art of the Torres Strait Islands’ (2011), and ‘The 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT2) in 1996.

Among many other awards, in 2022 she was bestowed the prestigious Red Ochre Award for her Lifetime Achievements and dedication to First Nations Arts. Her accomplishments have left a lasting impact on artists and art lovers alike, who now gather to recognise and pay respects to the blak queen of the polaroid, Destiny Deacon (1957-2024).

Destiny Deacon ‘Meloncholy’ 2000

Featured image: Destiny Deacon / Freefall (from ‘Forced into images’ portfolio) (detail) 2001 / Bubble jet print from polaroid photograph on paper / 101 x 119cm / Purchased 2004. QAG Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Destiny Deacon/Copyright Agency

The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Gallery stands in Brisbane. We pay respect to Aboriginal peoples, Torres Strait Islander peoples, and Elders past and present. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge the immense creative contribution First Australians, as the first visual artists and storytellers, make to the art and culture of this country.