University of Melbourne, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music: Flashover

The brief

Flashover is an immersive artwork about bushfire, led by CJ Taylor and Dr Robert Walton at the University’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It grew from a volunteer firefighter’s memory of being caught in a flashover during the Black Summer fires. The University wanted a short documentary that explained the work to a general audience and carried the voices of the volunteers whose experiences shaped it.

What I did

• Interviewed CFA volunteer firefighters about the fires they had lived through.
• Shaped the film so it opens with the fire in a volunteer’s own words before it explains the artwork, so the audience understands what the artists were responding to.
• Explained how the work was made, from photogrammetry to a 15-channel soundscape, in plain terms for viewers with no background in art or technology.

Outcome

The documentary formed a major part of the submission that made Flashover a finalist in the 2025 Lumen Prize, an international award for art and technology. It is published on the Faculty’s channel and the artwork’s project page.

Artwork led by CJ Taylor and Dr Robert Walton. Commissioned for the University's communications team. Production: Latitude Video Production.