Pulsing with energy, and the spirit of the underground, Kiss of Light celebrates David McDiarmid’s specific alchemy of lust, rage and hope.
To resist, to hope, to dream
A defining voice of late 20th century radical counterculture, David McDiarmid fused art, fashion, nightlife with bold activism and unapologetic self-expression.
On the 30th anniversary of the artist’s death, Lighting of the Sails: Kiss of Light transforms his life’s work, rooted in activism and provocation, into a new animation projected onto the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Sydney.
Organised by mood and feeling, Kiss of Light is a slow dance of texture, colour, feeling and ideas, tracing the artist’s punk, queer sensibility. Featuring four key bodies of work —the Bedsheet Paintings, Disco Kwilts, Kiss of Light and Rainbow Aphorisms — the animation draws forward McDiarmid’s practice to the present day, broadcasting the experiences of a repressed minority while embodying complex truths, absorbing fear and preserving memory.
Across seven minutes, Kiss of Light reveals how McDiarmid used irony, humour and fierce intimacy to celebrate diverse gender and sexual identities. By honouring the utopian underpinnings of his work, Kiss of Light is a rallying cry for equality, inclusion and freedom, reminding us that joy, curiosity and creative rebellion build a better world.
Commissioned and presented by Vivid Sydney and Sydney Opera House.
Co-curated by Dr. Sally Gray, Gill Minervini and Micheal Do.
Animated by VANDAL.
Event Details:
Dates: 23 May – 14 June 2025
Times: Every night on loop from 6 - 11pm.
Duration: The work is approximately 7 minutes in length. It will run on loop every evening during the festival.
Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.
Suitable for: Suitable for all ages.
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times.
Location: Sydney Opera House
Notes: Lighting of the Sails: Kiss of Light by David McDiarmid is a free event for everyone to enjoy each night from Friday 23 May until Saturday 14 June.