Hope Vale Arts and Culture Centre manager Melanie Gibson and gallery assistant and artist Teneille Nuggins share Indigenous culture and history at the World Expo in Osaka. Photo: Supplied.
An invitation to the World Expo 2025 has brought Hope Vale Arts and Culture Centre’s intricate textile designs to the eyes of more than 25 million international enthusiasts.
The World Expo, in Osaka, Japan this year from April to October, is held around the globe once every five years.
The six-month-long event gives countries the opportunity to showcase their cultures, technologies and innovations, fostering global cooperation and the exchange of new ideas.
Centre manager Melanie Gibson, who travelled to Osaka with her team earlier this month, said it was a privilege to represent our country and its rich history.
“Being selected for the Australian Pavilion, for a global event, is huge for the Hope Vale Arts Centre and our Indigenous culture,” she said.
“It was an honour they wanted to hear our stories and see our culture and textiles; it was like [an acknowledgement] Indigenous people matter.”
In true World Expo spirit, Ms Gibson said the team shared fashion techniques and history with international artists, learning from each other while honouring traditional ways.
She said one of the many memorable high points was a display by a world-renowned indigo dye textile artist who shared techniques passed down through 10 generations.
“We’re learning from each other because they were interested in what we do as well, and how we produce our fabrics,” she said.
“We’re bringing the thousands of years of culture we already have. But at the same time, we’re evolving and bringing it into a more contemporary world, where it has a bigger platform.
“We still use our own natural bush dye, but we shift the techniques here and there.”
Ms Gibson said honouring tradition while staying open to evolution kept culture and its art alive for generations.
“We are headed off to India in January doing block printing and natural root dyeing on scarves.
“We’re going to have a look at how they prepare their natural dyes for fabrics and paint with them, but we’re also going to show them our textile designs.”
