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Museum on mission to share Indigenous culture with the world

The University of Virginia's Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection includes hundreds of pieces from generations of Indigenous artists.

The museum's curator Henry Skerritt said it was his mission to share the stories and culture of Australia's first people with the world.

"The last time the planet saw this many extraordinary artists emerge in a 100-year period must have been Florence in the 15th century," he said.

"There really aren't moments in human history where the concentration of genius emerges like it has in Aboriginal Australian art in the last 100 years."

Fashion icon Jimmy Choo chooses Noongar artist's design for women's shoe

West Australian-based Noongar man Peter Farmer, who grew up in the regional town of Gnowangerup, said he had been approached by the fashion giant through mutual friend Catherine Birch, and was given an opportunity to display his artwork in person.

"We went and had breakfast and I'd taken some of my artwork," he said.

"The artwork that was chosen is the blue wren, which is my Aboriginal totem, [and] is something that I've painted for a long time, is significant to me and looks really nice on the shoe."

This Indigenous community flipped the roles in colonial photos

"It was set up to gather the Indigenous people from out in the bush and chain them up and bring them into Coen ... to get them off the country," says artist and Kaantju traditional owner Naomi Hobson.

Now, in collaboration with photographer Greg Semu, Hobson has set out to explore this history by recreating brutal archival images.

But in Semu's images the script has been flipped — often the victims pose as abusers. And the entire Indigenous community of Coen was involved in the recreations.

Scared to speak

Bible stories told through Indigenous art

She reached adulthood before she started painting, watching the work of others as she developed her skills.

When she looks at her dot painting — in the rich colours of central Australia — a bright crucifix she has put in it gives her strength, she said.

"I painted the Last Supper, Christ sitting with his disciples."

More than 60 Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal artists have contributed to Our Mob, God's Story, a book just launched in Adelaide.

Fashion label Magpie Goose showcases traditional Top End Aboriginal paint

Artist Mario Munkara points out the different design elements of the printed ceremonial pukumani burial poles, representing various styles of body painting and scarification used during funeral ceremonies.

"They used to have the scars around their chests, and the ladies used to have it on their breasts and shoulder," he says.

"Pukumani pole is traditional way for us when we carve, to think about our sorrow and the person who passed away."

Ringbalin shares Indigenous culture and healing environment message

Ringbalin, a Ngarrindjeri word for ceremony, involves sharing stories of Indigenous culture and staging healing ceremonies for the waterways.

"It's about the spirit of this land, it's about the spirit of the river and the stories that we tell our children," Ngarrindjeri elder Major Sumner explained.

"[They are] stories that need to be passed on — about the river, about creation of the land that we live in."

The Aboriginal stand-up comedians cracking up Australia

Melbourne's International Comedy Festival first held its Deadly Funny competition in 2007 and The Deadly Funnies have helped to sustain the genre.

More recently we've have TV shows like Black Comedy8MMM, and Comedy Up Late

Compare the eel recipes used by the Aboriginal people of Parramatta and colonial settlers

Each season when the eel was spawning along the Parramatta River, they would gather with other Indigenous tribes to celebrate and share stories.

After 1788, those practices were slowly lost as colonial settlers moved into the area.

On Sunday the annual Eel Festival at Elizabeth Farm in Rosehill will give visitors a chance to understand the ways of the Dharug people and how significant eel was to the way they lived.