Breathing Garden

A luminous collaboration with Tingey’s Painting with Parkinsons ACT

Breathing Garden is a meditative light installation and an illuminart Original — brought to life in collaboration with Tingey’s Painting with Parkinsons ACT. Inspired by the gentle rhythms of breath, brush, and body, this immersive work transforms watercolour artworks into an animated sanctuary of light, sound, and movement.

The work began with a simple question: What if artworks made by the artists living with the tremors of Parkinson’s, could be scaled to architectural size, and breathe with life? From this spark grew a creative partnership grounded in trust, experimentation, and deep care. The artists of the group shared their luminous, expressive works and unique methods of creation; illuminart translated these into a contemplative projection and sculpture experience.

The Installation

The installation features three freestanding triangular prisms arranged as a sculptural garden. Each glows from within, combining animated watercolours, soft backlighting, and immersive sound. Audiences are invited to wander around them, surrounded by shifting layers of light and colour. The experience is gentle, contemplative, and quietly transformative — a pause in the noise of the world.

An illuminart Original

Breathing Garden is part of illuminart’s growing body of Originals, and serves as a testbed for new forms of collaboration and storytelling. It explores the potential of co-created visual languages to express emotion without words, blending sculpture, light, and animation to expand the tradition of watercolour painting. Technology is used with intention — not to dazzle, but to gently support community expression. Designed for adaptability, the work premieres at Enlighten Festival 2026 (Canberra) and is available for touring nationally.

Project Partners

Painting with Parkinsons ACT
Led by John Pratt, this extraordinary collective supports people with Parkinson’s to paint with freedom, using gesture, breath, and flow as creative tools. The group’s volunteers have been involved in photographing works, and guiding the ideas for sound and animation.

illuminart Stories in Light
Concept, projection design, animation, and sculptural delivery by the illuminart team, including Craig Laurendet and Cindi Drennan. The project team have had extensive hands on in sewing, fabrication, design and assembly, specialist projection mapping design, digital art and animation.

Mont Tents
Mont Tents, a high quality Australian outdoor brand founded in 1981 in Canberra. They specialise in creating premium technical equipment, including high-quality, durable tents designed specifically for Australian conditions and international adventures.  Mont team members have supported the project with advice and custom-length poles within the structure.

Home Upholstery

Much of the art which emerges from this program engages the viewer on a number of levels... it also conveys a form of narrative and portrait of each artist which is profoundly affirming and engaging.

John Pratt, Program Coordinator, Painting with Parkinsons