Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature

An exhibitioN and a Poem

In April 2024, I saw ACMI’s exhibition of Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature. It was mesmerising, a ‘hypnotic immersive experience explor[ing] the rhythm that cultivates and connects all life – breath’.

On one of the display boards was illuminated a poem by Dr Daisy Lafarge. I jotted it down and today, read it again. I’ve read and contemplated it often over the last 8 months. Here is a transcription. Note: I’m not sure whether I’ve spaced it faithfully to the original, nor am I sure whether the first line is the title of the poem. I apologise to the poet for any inaccuracies.

The syllables of starlight

An ancient language of the cosmos

Uttered by grasses and forests, mountains and bodies


From this chorus

An atmosphere is sung into being

Boundless, caressing

These are the tides we live in

Nourishing us inside and out

In ripples and ricochets

Immersing us in abundance

As the world breathes out

Life begins to take shape

A tangle of essences streaming beneath your skin

Blurring the outline of where you end and begin


On this unending journey

Time shades off

Into moments of matter


Breath takes flight, merging and emerging, to an infinite rhythm

And somewhere in this cascade is you:

Life nested within life


A cell in the body of the Earth

Dissolving the boundary of who is breathing who

Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature, lungs

Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature

Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature

Marshmallow laser feast On our concept of reality

Our concept of reality is entwined with how our bodies are structured to perceive the world. Scientific inquiry, probing the nature of nature, reveals a much broader spectrum of reality that lies beyond our perception.

Under a microscope, a cell appears to breathe halos of light. If we could lie beneath it and look up, we might see how similar a cell is to a star.

By changing our point of view, we begin to realise that we’re as made of stars as we are of cells.

Marshmallow Laser Feast on oneness

Modern science is helping to reveal something Indigenous knowledge has always held to be true – that what is outside of us is not separate from us. This ancient wisdom is needed more than ever today. And it compels us to use our technology to both honour and deepen our intricate relationships with the web of beings, reminding us, with awe, that we are all but extensions of one another.

Desanka Vukelich