Destiny Deacon Smile 2017 lightjet print 102.0 x 127.0 cm (framed) ed. 5/5 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne © Destiny Deacon / Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
This focused retrospective exhibition covers 30 year’s of Destiny Deacon’s career as a contemporary artist, for the first time to a French audience.
Collaborating often with her late partner and long-time collaborator, Virginia Fraser, Deacon offers a nuanced, thoughtful, and at times intensely funny snapshot of contemporary Australian life. Working across media, this retrospective exhibition includes photography and video.
Early video works appear amongst the photographic prints, offering a unique insight into Deacon’s darkly comical, idiosyncratic world view. By contrasting seemingly innocent childhood imagery with scenes taken from the darkest reaches of adulthood, Destiny Deacon transports people into an uncanny valley; a chaotic world where disgraced dollies play out sinister scenes for audience amusement. This presentation also features number of new works, revisits the world premiere of a two new series of work by both Deacon and Fraser.
A descendant of the Kuku and Erub/Mer people from Far North Queensland and Torres Strait, Deacon is internationally known for a body of work depicting her darkly comic, idiosyncratic worldview. Offering a nuanced, thoughtful and, at times, intensely funny snapshot of contemporary Australian life, Deacon reminds us that ‘serious’ art can also have a sense of humour.
Melbourne-based, Deacon works across photography, video, sculpture and installation to explore dichotomies such as childhood and adulthood, comedy and tragedy, and theft and reclamation. Her chaotic worlds, where disgraced dolls play out sinister scenes for audience amusement, subvert cultural phenomena to reflect and parody the environments around us.
Destiny – The art of Destiny Deacon is an exhibition touring from the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, curated by Myles Russell-Cook.
SOURCES:
Embassy of Australian in France
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne