UPLIFTING and equally tragic stories of the Gomeroi experience in the New England North West are being told through a new exhibition at the Tamworth gallery.
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After more than two years in the making, Arts North West has delivered River to Ridges.
The multi-media exhibit serves as a type of call and response piece between 21 of the region's elders and a younger generation of Indigenous artists.
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Project manager Lorrayne Riggs said the works were born out of a growing desire in the community to "hear the stories of the sites, our cultural stories and also the stories of our elders".
The elders stories' were recorded, some were uplifting, but others were "tragic", particularly experiences relating to the Stolen Generation.
The four artists featured in Rivers to Ridges, Loren Ryan, Dolly Jerome, Anthony Conlon and Jade Porter then let the stories feed their art which span across music, painting, textiles and dance.
Ms Riggs said it was about giving Gomeroi culture a strong platform to be heard and understood.
Too often Aboriginal culture from NSW is not valued as highly as in our neighbouring states.
- Project manager Lorrayne Riggs
"There's some things that will give people a really good understanding of community," she said.
"It's slowly rebuilding and it getting to a point where we have younger generations that are really keen to hear it and keen to build on it through their art and cultural practices.
"I think we are moving forward with the desire for people to want to hear it.
"Too often Aboriginal culture from NSW is not valued as highly as in our neighbouring states.
"By translating and sharing the stories from our region we can show the world that Aboriginal culture is alive, important and highly valued in the New England of NSW."
Ms Riggs said more work need to be done engaging pre-schoolers and young adults.
"We've got Len Waters who is one of the cultural leaders we worked with, he is doing stuff in pre-school and that is where we embed that desire and it grows from there," she said.
"Another project we are doing is targeted at 18-30 year old and professional development, they are often missed in the arts sector because we work with children and we work with the elders, but we miss that middle bracket."