The illuminating interactive installation families will love this January

Posted on 6 January, 2025

These school holidays, forget taking your children to see art – immerse them in it instead.

Coming to the Canberra Theatre Centre from Saturday 18 until Saturday 25 January, Sea of Light will end the school holidays with a memorable journey of light and imagination the whole family will enjoy.

Brought to life by Patch Theatre – a South Australian company that has produced over 100 unique works and won countless awards – the illuminating, interactive exhibition invites children to create their own unique artworks on a glowing sea floor.

Using UV torches, stencils, and model boats to paint a voyage in light, according to Sea of Light Creative producer Sasha Zahra it’s all about rediscovering a sense of play and creativity.

“It’s quite magical,” she says.

“It’s super creative, and it’s really about people finding their own sense of play. It’s great to explore by yourself and it’s great to explore with your family.”

As families explore Sea of Light, artworks by Contemporary Aboriginal Visual Artist and Pitjantjatjara and Yankuntjatjara woman Elizabeth Close are also painted in light across the sea floor.

The paintings – which speak to the connection between land, sea, earth, and waterways and inspired by the Australian landscape – reflect the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Country.

According to Sasha, it’s not only a beautiful inclusion but an important one.

“The work does tour extensively, so it’s really wonderful to have that First Nations narrative layered through the work. And Elizabeth was really inspired by the work when she saw it, and so it was her take on play, nature, creativity ,and families,” she says.

“It’s beautiful to watch children interact with artwork as it is drawn onto the floor. Quite often they’ll follow the little light as it’s creating a circle and might not realise at the beginning what it is doing. And then, they’ll step back and realise that there’s whole completed artwork.”

Originally commissioned by the Art Gallery of South Australia and Illuminate Adelaide in 2021, there are three versions of the Sea of Light, with the largest version coming to Canberra. Encouraging families to interact with the works, Sasha says that the sensory adventure also includes a gentle soundscape composed by Adelaide-based sound artist Jason Sweeney as well as two other special installations.

Credit: Matt Byrne.

“The beautiful soundtrack incorporates forms of nature, bush, and the outback as well as water and wind. It really evokes lots of imagination and children that just really swept off into another world,” she explains.

“Then there are another two installations that happen just off the floor, but in the same room. One of those is a beautiful, translucent dome tent…when children step on certain parts of the floor, it triggers light and sound, so it encourages them to dance and interact with each other.”

Helping children to express their creativity while they explore how they see the world, Sea of Light is more than a school holiday activity to keep them entertained – it’s a chance to unleash their creativity in a unique adventure that the whole family will enjoy.

“It gives them the opportunity to play, interact with each other, and completely be taken off into another world where your imagination is just allowed to run wild,” says Sasha.

“You just explore it in your own way, with your family or with your friends. Even though it is aimed at children and their families, we really do find that adults are just as excited. At the end of the session, it’s quite often the adults that we’re having to tear away.”

Photography: Clare Hawley.