Families and children in Stanthorpe can experience exciting free hands-on art-making activities when the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern (QAGOMA) presents Asia Pacific Triennial Kids on Tour at Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery on 7 & 14 January 2025.

QAGOMA Director Chris Saines said seven different artist-designed activities in Asia Pacific Triennial Kids on Tour would connect young visitors and families in more than 180 communities throughout the state with ideas and cultures from across Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

‘Since 1998, the Gallery has collaborated with more than 300 Australian and international contemporary artists to produce engaging interactive projects and activities for children and families,’ Mr Saines said.

‘As we present the expansive eleventh edition of the Gallery’s flagship Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, including Asia Pacific Triennial Kids in the Children’s Art Centre at GOMA, from 30 November to 27 April 2025, Asia Pacific Triennial Kids on Tour will visit regional and remote venues across the state in December and January.’

Asia Pacific Triennial Kids on Tour includes activities developed in collaboration with artists Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia/Palestine), Etson Caminha (Timor‑Leste), Harold ‘Egn’ Eswar (Malaysia), Brett Graham (Aotearoa New Zealand), Okui Lala (Malaysia), Yim Maline (Cambodia) and Rithika Merchant (India). 

Developed in collaboration with artist Dana Awartani, Unity within Multiplicity is an activity based on Zellij tile designs — a style of mosaic traditionally found in North African and Spanish architecture and created by arranging small pieces of coloured tile into geometric patterns. In this activity children can create repeating patterns using coloured pencils and geometric templates.

My Kitchen Sounds, an activity by experimental sound artist and musician Etson Caminha, invites children to experiment with their own sound composition and make music with materials found in the home.

Monster of Wants, developed with Malaysian artist Harold ‘Egn’ Eswar, invites children to create a drawing of a monster that expresses the things they most desire, while A Dream for the Future, in collaboration with Cambodian artist Yim Maline, prompts them to make a drawing that reflects what they dream for the future.

If the seeds chose where to grow, developed in collaboration with Indian artist Rithika Merchant, encourages children to shape a new world by adding elements such as living beings, plants and celestial bodies to a digital or drawn landscape.

Wakuwaku reflects artist Brett Graham’s use of traditional Māori patterns. He asks children to consider the natural environment where they live and to be inspired by it when designing their own pattern to apply to the surface of two custom template shapes.

Children can also enjoy two video works created in collaboration with Malaysian artist Okui Lala and featuring bilingual and multilingual students from Brisbane’s West End State School.

Asia Pacific Triennial Kids and Asia Pacific Triennial Kids on Tour are supported by Principal Benefactor, the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation.

For more information visit www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/apt11