ABORIGINAL people are connecting with their culture through learning about visual art, while creating career paths at the same time.
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About 10 students are enrolled in a new Certificate III Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Arts course at Tamworth's TAFE.
Rebecca Slater is a proud Kamilaroi woman, and said being enrolled in the course for the past term has helped her find new ways to express herself.
"Traditionally, art is how Aboriginal people used to talk, it wasn't written, it was either through the genres of drawing, dancing and singing," she said.
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"This is how we keep our history and I'm just learning about it now."
One of Ms Slater's artworks is called Identity and it's made up of hand prints.
She said the creation explores the process of discovering who she is.
"It just talks about going from the traditional to where we are now, walking in two worlds, and then coming to find yourself," she said.
"I'm Aboriginal and I'm proud of who I am and ... that's where you get that clear image of okay, I know who I am now.
"If you can put the message out there that we're still here and we can hold our heads high, we can get through this and we've all got to come together and continue to walk together, forward and up."
The class runs for a year and is open to anyone who identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
TAFE art and design teacher Dr Gillian Rhys said teaching the class has been a big learning journey, but one she felt "so privileged" to be taking.
"It's not just an art course, it goes so much deeper than that and it's about having healthy, well-connected and well-educated people who are then going about their lives in a positive way," Dr Rhys said.
"And the other side is the Aboriginal art industry is booming, still, and there is a lot of scope for earning a good income out of making art."
Dr Rhys said the visual arts course covers mediums like drawing, painting, sculpture and print making and art theory and history are incorporated.
She said the group goes on relevant excursions and she hopes to get some guest speakers in.
"My job is to guide individuals on that learning journey, I can't teach people that connection to culture, I can only help them find it and with the things that people either already know or discover, then they can learn how to produce artworks," she said.
"Just having the course here at all says we value Aboriginal people and we value Aboriginal culture."
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
