Sydney’s innovative Dreambox Collective has created a moving digital experience in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing together music, poetry and art. Nightlight is part graphic novel, part audio book, part musical experience – and it’s beautifully realised, taking the reader on a nocturnal journey shot through with melancholy. Dreambox Artistic Director – and poet – Chloe Chung and composer Carlo Antonioli share how the project took shape.

Sandra Brand’s artwork from Dreambox Collective’s Nightlight

How did the idea for Nightlight first come together?

Chloe Chung: Last year, our visual artist Sandra Brand showed me a set of illustrations she created whilst recovering from mental illness in hospital, featuring a character she was obsessed with drawing who kept her company when she had trouble sleeping at night. It so happened that I was also writing bits and pieces of poetry when I couldn’t sleep at night, but we didn’t put two and two together until lockdown earlier this year when we realised that our secret night-creations could be fused together!

What did you hope to convey through the piece?

Carlo Antonioli: Nightlight is a reminder to all of us that even at the...