The sarcastic title of this work pokes fun at the old fashioned idea that race should not be the subject of polite conversation. Deacon uses a white and a Black dolly to represent the unequal power dynamics that exist within Australian society. The dolls stand in for people who, based on the colour of their skin, experience the impact of racial inequality in vastly different ways. The cracked head of the white doll reveals an empty void. Symbolically violent, perhaps this emptiness suggests the dolls will never be able to fully comprehend one another’s experiences.This work was curated in RACE 2016 at Wyndham Art Gallery. Destiny Deacon (1956–2024) was a descendant of the KuKu (Far North Queensland) and Erub/Mer (Torres Strait) people. She exhibited nationally and internationally since the early 1990s in solo and group shows. Deacon held two major retrospectives, in 2004 and 2020, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne respectively. Her 2004 survey show, Walk & don’t look blak, toured to the Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Tokyo, the Tjibao Cultural Centre in Noumea, New Caledonia and Wellington City Gallery in New Zealand. In 2022, she was the recipient of the Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement at First Nations Arts Awards. In the same year, Deacon’s work was shown at the Australian Embassy in Paris in an exhibition titled Destiny - The art of Destiny Deacon. In 2023, Deacon was included in the Sharjah Biennial 15, Thinking Historically in the Present, conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor and curated by Hoor Al Qasimi. In 2024, Deacon's work was exhibited in the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, curated by Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero. Deacon’s work is held in most major public collections in Australia as well as Tate, London, Museum Moderner Kunst (MUMOK), Stifting Ludwig, Vienna, Austria and Museum Sammlung Essl, Austria.first nations photography, australian photography, australian indigenous art, race, racism, colonisation

Purchased through the Horsham Art Gallery Trust Fund with the assistance of the Robert Salzer Foundation, 2018

Publication accompanying the project, The f Word: Contemporary feminist art in Australia. Curated by Caroline Phillips, this project included multiple components: A Dinner Party: Setting the table; the Regional Feminist Art Forum, the Technopia Tours Feminist Art Bus, and two exhibitions.feminism, feminist art, melbourne, the dinner party, australia, judy chicago, west space, latrobe visual art institute, bendigo, gippsland art gallery, sale, victoria, ararat regional art gallery, ararat, technopia tours, kim donaldson, catherine bell, penny byrne, filomena coppola, kate just, jill orr, clare rae, elvis richardson, kate beynon, karen buczynski-lee, destiny deacon, laurene dietrich, eliza-jane gilchrist, janice gobey, georgia macguire, robyn massey, caroline phillips, louise saxton, inez de vega, lyndal walker, justine makdessi, the great petition, natalie thomas, laura castagnini, lyndal jones, vicki kinai, dot ket, virginia fraser, juliette peers, louise burchill, carolyn barnes, melbourne social equity institute, ebony gulliver, kalinda vary, kate robertson, stephanie alexander, kate macneill, victoria duckett, hana assafiri, victoria bennett, anne marsh, catherine deveny, danni zuvela, jon dale, marcia jane, catherine evans

non-fictionVisual and written documentation on photography in Australia and its importance.racial, political, social, brenda l. croft, leah king-smith, tracey moffat, brook andrew, destiny deacon, rosemary laing, olive cotton, margaret michaelis, ruth maddison, carol jerrems, fiona hall, patricia piccinni, jacky redgate, anne zahalka, pat brassington, anne ferran