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There was no Eureka moment; more like a feeling that I was part of something much bigger than myself. I felt joyful and a great sense of being alive. Scribbling thoughts and feelings into my sketch book was something I did, so I had no sense of how this experience would shape my future life\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You famously sketched the original idea in a notebook and then sat on it for over a decade before bringing it to life. What finally made you feel ready to realise it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t exactly sit on the idea. As soon as\u00a0 I returned to the UK, I began thinking about how I might create an art installation to describe my experience, but it took a while to develop as I had no points of reference for how or where to start; also more worryingly, no regular income or home! I had to be realistic and accept that this was going to be a \u201clong-term \u201c project. I am a bit of a terrier once I get an idea in my head \u2026I hold on!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You’ve described yourself as someone who works with light the way a painter works with pigment. Why did you choose this as your preferred medium of expression?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I came across light in a formal sense by chance when I moved to Sydney in 1984. I saw a display of UV light-activated fluorescent materials in a shop window, which literally stopped me in my tracks. I passed it on my way to catch a Ferry from Circular Quay to Balmain, where I was doing a stint as an illustrator for a TV \/film set builder. My interest in using light as a medium of expression progressively developed from that encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Solar-powered stems, fibre optics, acrylic, the technology behind Field of Light is surprisingly delicate. How much of your practice is artistic vision versus engineering problem-solving?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have always been mindful that having an idea is only part of the solution. Bringing an artwork to fruition is essential if one is serious about the idea. My dear old mum advised all her children (especially me) \u201c don\u2019t be a talker, be a doer\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 750,000 visitors, ten years, 50,000 stems of light across seven football fields. When you walk through it now, does it still feel like your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Truthfully, nobody is entirely responsible for the work they create. If one considers the reality of life, everything is connected, and reality is actually a dance of atoms. However, I do feel connected with the FOL every time I visit Uluru. It’s like visiting an old friend or younger me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Field of Light has since travelled to California, New York, Pennsylvania, Western Australia and the UK, but Ulu\u1e5fu remains the original and longest-running. What does each new landscape bring out of the work that the others can’t?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Art changes one’s perception of a place as much as a place changes one’s perception of the art. Every iteration tends to have its own feel, and one can’t predict how this will be; so all new installations are an adventure with new surprises to be discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The installation sits gently on A\u1e49angu Country. How has your relationship with the Traditional Owners shaped the way the work has evolved over the decade?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From the very start it was important for me to convey that the FOL was simply an expression of joy and connection inspired by visiting\u00a0 Uluru with Serena all those years ago. It is definitely not a pastiche or western interpretation of Indigenous art or culture. The installation would never have proceeded without the Anangu\u2019s blessing, and I was honoured that they gave it a name in their language which translates to \u201clooking at many beautiful lights\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For luxury travellers planning to visit, the experience is as much about where you stay as what you see. Where do you personally lay your head when you’re at the Resort?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1984, we camped. It was December (and very hot); the ground radiated the heat of the day back into the sky \u2026it felt like sleeping on a radiator! More recently, we have been very lucky to stay at Sails in the Desert, but there are a variety of places to stay; 131 being the luxury end of the spectrum. Wherever you stay, it\u2019s the place that creates the unique memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Longitude 131\u00b0 is regularly named one of the world’s great luxury lodges, with its tented pavilions facing directly out to Ulu\u1e5fu. For our readers debating where to base themselves, what’s your take on experiencing Field of Light from that level of seclusion versus the buzz of the main Resort?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In truth, like many others, I would love to experience 131 because I hear it is amazing. However, I do love Yulara as a village; there\u2019s a definite buzz of seeing\/experiencing visitors from all over the world coming and going. I love the fact that the place comes alive when the sun sets and rises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new Field of Light Dinner menu has been unveiled using native ingredients from First Nations-owned Creative Native Foods, Coastal Rosemary Lamb, Smoked Kangaroo Blini, and Wattleseed Falafel. Can you tell us a bit more about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I was lucky enough to taste the new menu at the 10th anniversary celebrations. Experiencing native foods in such an iconic location can only enhance an appreciation of a place \u2026 Simply said it was delicious!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So much of luxury travel today is about meaningful experiences rather than just thread counts. Field of Light, Wintjiri Wiru, Sunrise Journeys, the new native-ingredient menu, Ayers Rock Resort has become a case study in that shift. Do you feel your work helped catalyse this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a small way, I hope we have been part of that influence to make travel experiences more meaningful. Places create feelings and feelings are fingerprints of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The extension to at least 2029 takes Field of Light well beyond anything you originally imagined. Do you see a natural endpoint for the work at Ulu\u1e5fu?, Or could it become permanent?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The FOL will stay until it is no longer deemed relevant to the place it inhabits. I am truly honoured that it lasted more than a year<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theluxuryeditor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bruce-walks-through-Field-of-Light-1024x683.jpeg\")
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