Destiny Deacon’s work deals with both historical issues and contemporary Aboriginal life. It is informed by personal experience and readily accessible mass media. Her photographs feature members of the artist’s family and friends posing for the camera as well as items from her collection of ‘Aboriginalia’ (assorted black dolls and kitsch).

Darkly humorous and insightful, Deacon’s haunting arrangements of mutilated dolls, satirical dress-ups and odd knick-knacks examine the wide discrepancies between the representation of Aboriginal people by the white Australian population and the reality of Aboriginal life. In her ‘lo-tech’ productions, Deacon creates a world of biting and eerie comedy that is effective in establishing a discourse about political, Indigenous and feminist concerns. (1. Vivien Webb, 2002, MCA Collection: New Acquisitions in Context)

In Where’s Mickey? Deacon utilises dress-up and masquerade to parody the stereotypically wholesome Disney character as well as co-opt it into an explicit representation of cultural identity.