Under Waters

ABOUT THE EVENT

Wiradjuri–Scottish artist April Phillips creates deeply sensory, immersive installations that merge First Nations knowledge, science and poetic computation. Presented as the first boorda yeyi Immersive Arts Commission, Under Waters carries audiences into a speculative past, billions of years before our own, when saltwater stretched across most of the Earth’s surface. The installation celebrates water as a key element of life, opening a portal into deep time where oceanic and celestial realms entwine. 

Visitors are invited to slow down and dwell within a living, generative environment that reshapes itself in response to their presence. Through real-time body tracking, each person’s silhouette dissolves and reforms as Xenophora-like forms echoing marine molluscs that adorn their shells with gathered fragments. As audiences linger, their digital bodies accrete layers of coral, sand, rock and stellar matter, becoming part of an abundant natural world. 

Building on her earlier collaborative works, including kajoo yannaga (Come on, Let’s Walk Together), presented at ACMI / Now or Never in 2024, Phillips continues her practice of creating interactive worlds using game engines, photogrammetry and generative sound in close dialogue with community. Under Waters draws on cultural reciprocity and deep respect for Country, with contributions from emerging First Nations artists at the Digital Lab Roebourne and connections to shell collections from the Dampier Archipelago held at WA Museum Boola Bardip. 

Developed as part of Phillips’ work co-establishing the Digital Lab Roebourne (an intergenerational space for digital artmaking and experimentation), Under Waters will be presented at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) from 19 February to 29 March 2026 as part of Bunuru Season 1, before touring regional Western Australia with partner ART ON THE MOVE.