It is a now iconic[12] series of photographs that built Moffatt's first widespread public attention,[13] each of which borrows from film language to construct what is described as "an enigmatic narrative of a young woman looking for more out of life than the circumstances of her violent rural upbringing.
Inspired by the 1955 classic Australian film Jedda, and sharing similar aesthetics to Something More, it tells the story of an Aboriginal woman forced to care for her ageing white mother.
[citation needed] Moffatt's photographic series Pet Thang (1991) and Laudanum (1998)[16] returned to the themes of Something More exploring mixed and sometimes obscure references to issues of sexuality, history, representation and race.
In Up in the Sky (1998)[20] the artist's work again used a sequential narrative but instead of using fantasy settings, a story concerning Australia's "stolen generation" – Indigenous Australian children who were taken from their families and forcibly relocated under Government policy – was enacted and performed on location in Queensland's outback.
Like Something More, Up in the sky employs the theme of race and violence, displaying a loose narrative set against the backdrop of a remote town, 'a place of ruin' and devastation populated by misfits and minor characters.
'[21] In 1997 Moffatt held her "first substantial exhibition to date" which established her artistic reputation internationally, [22] at Dia Art Foundation in the United States, featuring numerous works including Up in the Sky (1997) and Heaven (1997).
Moffatt's 2007 series Portraits explores the idea of 'celebrity' among people in her immediate social circle – family members, fellow artists, her dealer – through 'glamorised' renderings of their faces using computer technology, repetitive framing and bright colours.
What dictates our perceptions of the world, how are we perceived and how do we participate in that equation with autonomy.In 2024, Moffatt created the gothic photographic series of eight images, The Burning, which was first presented at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
The short films rely on the stylistic genre features of experimental cinema – usually including non-realist narrative scenarios often shot on sound stages echoing her work in still photography.
Early works such as Nice Coloured Girls and Night Cries also use sound mixes that reinforce the 'fakeness' of the settings and use well-worn experimental cinema devices such as audio field recordings and low tones to provide atmosphere.
Her series of montage video works made in collaboration with Gary Hillberg, including Lip (1999), Artist (2000), Love (2003), DOOMED (2007) and REVOLUTION (2008), use the cut up methodology of taking images from pre-existing sources and re-editing them into ironic commentaries on the material.
[citation needed] Primarily concerned with a series of almost static vignettes, Night Cries reiterates many of Moffatt's visual motifs from her still photography – sets, non-acting, an evocative use of sound and music.
[8] Moffatt uses different aspects of colonization of Aboriginal people to illustrate the damage and hurtful events that took place, reminding viewers of the past colonial history.
[citation needed] In Lip, Moffatt collates clips of black servants in Hollywood movies talking back to their 'bosses', attempting to expose the attitudes to race often found in mainstream cinema.