Lagalgal: The Mysteries of our Land 2022 was inspired by the constellations that appear in the sky above the Torres Strait. Brian Robinson creates artworks informed by his Torres Strait Islander heritage and the tropical marine environment surrounding Waiben (Thursday Island). Divided into three layers — land, sea and sky — Lagalgal emphasises how the movement of the stars is deeply intertwined with life on the islands. Lagalgal: The Mysteries of our Land 2022 Watch | Brian Robinson discusses his art practice In his work, Robinson incorporates aspects of popular culture with minaral — a word meaning design, pattern or decoration in Kala Lagaw Ya, the traditional language of Mabuiag, Badu and Moa islands. Animal tracks and skin patterns, tidal movements, masks and spirits are placed in conversation with Star Wars spacecraft, arcade space invaders, and Lego figurines. Lagalgal is brought to life with motion graphics featuring a dynamic soundscape with insightful narration by the artist and a recording of the traditional Torres Strait Islander song ‘Taba Naba’ by Yugambeh Youth Choir. Watch | Brian Robinson discusses Lagalgal: The Mysteries of our Land Kids activity | Create a woven angel fish Delve deeper into the QAGOMA Collection Watch | Brian Robinson discusses I know the voices in my head aren’t real but... Watch | Brian Robinson discusses Bedhan Lag: Land of the Kaiwalagal View Brian Robinson's Lagalgal: The Mysteries of our Land 2022 (print and motion graphics) in 'Wonderstruck' at the Gallery of Modern Art or delve into the captivating works on display with our weekly highlights. Wonderstruck 28 June – 6 October 2025 Gallery of Modern Art Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery) Brisbane, Australia Free entry

Sandra Selig’s interest ‘in science and astrophysics’, and in ‘the elements of space and being that can be felt but not seen’ inspire her work. For Selig, appreciating the extraordinary in the everyday is important: 'Something so familiar and ordinary can be completely expanded in your mind, to connect to something seemingly unrelated. I think it’s vital for people to feel like they can stop and absorb and think about something and maybe then drift back to it.' mid-air 2003 Rather than simply inserting an object into a space, Selig creates an atmosphere or energy, a tension between something virtual and an actual form. In mid-air 2003, Selig uses delicate but strong nylon thread beaded with Styrofoam balls to construct tubes that meet at right angles and seem to shift for the viewer as they move beneath the work. Watch | Sandra Selig's beaded thread appear to float in mid air mid-air comprises differently sized Styrofoam balls beaded intermittently on lengths of clear nylon thread, at certain points, and according to lighting, the balls appear to float in mid air. Two sets of the beaded thread, arranged in tubular compositions span both the length and the breadth of the space, bisecting at approximate right angles. The threads create a fine film of colourless texture where the appearance of the work alters as the viewer weaves through it. Just as the shifting lines of the work encourage the viewer to become immersed in it, the work also embodies the viewer's presence. Surrounded by white beads and delicate threads, you become acutely aware of the slightest movements in the air and the changing of the light. In the artist’s installations volume and form of space, air and light are evoked by delicate materials, and the ways in which these capture aspects of their surrounds, such as depth. Selig has stated: '… I've always been interested in shapes and the formlessness of form. These thread pieces are an attempt to sketch an object in an architectural space that perhaps removes weight or which, momentarily, forgets its density of form.’ Selig has a musical background, and some of her early works explore the physicality of sound, filling interior spaces with specially edited recordings. Like the vibrations emitted from musical instruments, mid-air hovers in the gallery space, inviting us to experience the formlessness of form. Watch | Sandra Selig discusses her works in 'Wonderstruck' Webs from my garden 'Webs from my garden' is a series of works on paper featuring spider webs captured by Selig, the artist likens these webs to a larger ‘web of life’ that can be found in the universe or the cells inside our bodies. Both fragile and resilient, each strand is finer than a human hair but stronger, kilogram for kilogram, than steel. Despite their relative strength, these delicate threads are often transitory, being broken and remade time and again. Here, Selig has captured a series of webs reflecting moments in time, collected from her garden, they have been sprayed with enamel and adhesive before being transferred to paper to preserve their form. The artist’s works have a way of slowing us down and making us look more closely, as she does when in her garden and elsewhere, appreciating what’s around her. Selig adds that she spends... ‘a lot of time in my garden... just looking and observing how creatures build things, and I became really fascinated by these spiderwebs’, [which she likens to] ‘drawings I could never make with my own hands’. Like the large thread installations that Selig constructs, these tiny arachnid installations plot points across a void and systematically connect them with fibre. View Sandra Selig’s mid air 2003 and 'Webs from my garden' 2004-05 in 'Wonderstruck' at the Gallery of Modern Art until 6 October 2025 or delve into the captivating works on display with our weekly highlights. Wonderstruck 28 June – 6 October 2025 Gallery of Modern Art Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery) Brisbane, Australia Free entry

Brisbane artist Barbara Heath considers herself a 'jeweller to the lost', she feels that people are found only when they locate their perfect jewel, therefore her quest is to create imaginative forms that speak to people. Jewellery for Heath is very much concerned with sending, receiving and deciphering messages. Heath as maker has the first intimate connection with an object which has embarked on its voyage — soon others will be drawn along on its charismatic trail. A long term interest has been the subliminal messages conveyed by the wearing of jewellery. Watch | Barbara Heath discusses her jewellery The oversized and whimsical ‘babies’ 1989 brooch demands a relationship between object and wearer — and through image reflection — the mirror also requires the participation of the viewer. Featuring contrasting materials, adding texture and depth, the work brings together anodised aluminium, convex mirror, and miniature sterling silver figures placed at the four points of the compass, this jewel from a series that references life's beginning and end. Brooch, 'babies' 1989 Pyramid brooch 1993 in 18ct gold and Chinese freshwater pearls, alludes to Arabian imagery and ornamentation. Heath has created a tension between the organic fragility of the pearls and the hard, geometric, gold grid. The pearls appear to float freely in space whilst simultaneously trapped by the grid. Characteristic of Heath's work is the element of surprise as hidden aspects of the piece become apparent on close inspection, encouraging you to look at it from different angles — the rigidity of the grid is softened by a sinuous line created by glimpsed sections of the pearls. Heath has a love of art history, architecture and design and explores these through craftsmanship, often using symmetry and intricate geometric patterns. Her Mashrabiya-inspired lattice brooch 1993-94 design uses a Middle Eastern architectural geometric style often found on windows. Mashrabiya describes a traditional decorative screen that defines a discrete boundary between the private and the public. Permitting light and casting shadows, the architectural veil speaks of the sensual, the precious and that which is to be concealed. Pyramid brooch 1993 Mashrabia-inspired lattice brooch 1993-94 Heath’s brooches Wryneck, Hawk, and Skylark explore how birds can represent our needs and desires. These are modern manifestations of a very traditional brooch form, both in Europe and Australia. The artist has drawn on historical meanings associated with gemstones to pair each bird with a stone, intended to infuse the wearer with certain qualities. Birds are above all messengers and are an ideal metaphor for Heath, whose jewellery is very much concerned with messages. The Wryneck’s diamond encourages clarity of mind and body, while the spinel is said to increase physical vitality and the balancing of emotions. For the Hawk, Heath chose the sapphire, said to bring mental clarity and heightened perception to the wearer. With the Skylark, the ruby represents the opening of the heart and the promotion of love, while the pearls are symbols for wisdom and sincerity. Each choice Heath has made creates a particular message that acts as a charm to protect and infuse the wearer with certain qualities. Wryneck 1999 Hawk 1999 Skylark 2005 Each of these jewels transforms the familiar into something unexpected. Known for collaborating with artists, engineers and fabricators, Heath’s designs are a unique blend of tradition and innovation. Her works have a distinctive style and she has successfully integrated the diametrically opposed practices of the art jeweller with elements drawn from the commercial jeweller. View Barbara Heath’s jewellery in 'Wonderstruck' at the Gallery of Modern Art until 6 October 2025 or delve into the captivating works on display with our weekly highlights. Wonderstruck 28 June – 6 October 2025 Gallery of Modern Art Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery) Brisbane, Australia Free entry

Big Blue 1981–82 creates a wonderous optical illusion, where the canvas seems to move before your eyes. Stripes of colours are arranged across the painting’s surface in a way that makes it appear to vibrate with energy. Bridget Riley is renowned for using colour and form to explore the optical limits of the human eye. Riley's work is often connected with the Op art movement of the 1960s. Op (short for optical) art refers to abstract works that exploit the eye's physical response to different colours and shapes. Whereas Op art was short lived, Riley's work has continued to develop and explore the potential of colour and its relationships. Big Blue was painted following Riley's visit to Egypt in 1980–81 where she was astounded by the brilliant Mediterranean light and the palette of ancient paintings in the tombs of Luxor, the encounter had a profound effect upon her choice of palette when she returned to England. Big Blue 1981–82 As the artist experimented with the colours needed to create the right group, she had a definite feeling of recognition, of having used some before in more subdued states. What was new was the degree of brilliance captured in these colours. Riley reported that what looked like being conceptually a restriction, was not. The Egyptian palette gave Riley for the first time a basic range of six strong colours — brick red, ochre-yellow, blue, turquoise — which, because of their intensity, demand a return to the simpler form of stripes. Big Blue is made up of the four Egyptian colours arranged in stripes of only slightly differing widths, combined with black and white — the black acts as a strong rhythm which binds it all together and the white provides resting points. The colour bands refuse to stay where they are. Some retreat, some jump forward; they swell and oscillate simultaneously, teasing the spaciousness and depth assured by the dominance of blue. The work marks a shift in the artist's practice where sensuous curves were replaced by vertical bands of solid colours, creating a radiant, visually vibrating surface. How does the relationship between the colours feel to you? View Bridget Riley's Big Blue 1981–82 in 'Wonderstruck' at the Gallery of Modern Art or delve into the captivating works on display with our weekly highlights. Wonderstruck 28 June – 6 October 2025 Gallery of Modern Art Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery) Brisbane, Australia Free entry