A spectacular installation near Uluru marks the realisation of a 24-year-old dream for artist Bruce Munro.
Story By Mark Muller
More than two decades ago Bruce Munro stood in the sands near Uluru and was struck by an idea. He saw in his mind’s eye a multi-coloured field of light spread out before the rock – an ephemeral homage to the great monolith. He jotted the idea in his sketchbook and moved on through his life. Now Bruce is back at Uluru and the idea has become reality. Uluru is home to his Field of Light.
The 4.8-hectare installation comprises 50,000 globes joined by fibre-optic cable to 147 projectors powered by 36 solar panels four kilometres from the northern face of Uluru. The globes gently and slowly strobe through a colour pallete that reflects the hues of the desert ¬– its sunrises and sunsets, and the reds and greens of the earth and plants.
“It’s been a long journey,” Bruce says. “My wife Serena and I first came here 24 years ago in an old Toyota Corona that cost $1500. We’d been living in Australia for eight years and were about to leave. People said we must visit Uluru before we left, so we did. It changed my whole life. It sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s true.”
This story excerpt is from Issue #107
Outback Magazine: June/July 2016
