A unique partnership between a remote Northern Territory women's centre and an art studio in India has beeen recognised at this year's prestigious National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFA).
The event is Australia's largest annual showcase of First Nations fashion and celebrates the best Indigenous designers, artists and creatives from across the country.
This year's ceremony took place in Darwin on Larrakia country, and was attended by locals and art enthusiasts from all over.
Presented by the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation as part of Indigenous Fashion Projects, the event follows last week's sold-out Country to Couture runway celebration.
A partnership between the Bábbarra Women's Centre, in the remote community of Maningrida, and India's Tharangini Studio won NIFA's Community Collaboration award — a category that recognises strong, two-way relationships between First Nations communities and the textile and fashion industry.
Padmini Govind travelled from India to accept tonight's award alongside Janet Marawarr, who represented Bábbarra Women's Centre.
Their collaboration translated 78 Indigenous designs from 14 clans into woodblock stamps used for printing, sharing the ancient techniques that have been passed down over hundreds of years in Bangalore, also known as Bengaluru.
Travelling overseas to collaborate and then keeping in touch online, the two women-led organisations found what Govind described as "textile magic".
"It's a craft-led dialogue because, when they visited us, English is our fourth language and English is also a third language for them," she said.
Govind said the lino printing tools used by Bábbarra artists tended to disintegrate over time, but woodblocks could last up to 100 years if they were made from the right materials.
"In way, it's preserving stories of artists who are here and also who are no longer with us," she said.
"We really feel blessed to be part of their cultural legacy."
Govind said the art was about more than design.
Marawarr said the partnership would help First Nations clans pass that important cultural knowledge down to the next generation.
"[We can] teach our children for the future and [show] the old people, to see how they print the design," she said.
NIFA's major Indigenous Fashion Designer award went to Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, from Quandamooka Country in south-east Queensland, who said she was "overwhelmed" by the win.
Her work features sustainably-sourced, handmade textiles including clothing, accessories and homewares.
"My work always starts with a story and I'm wearing what I make — that is hand-printed, naturally dyed, small batch, all connected to my mum and her stories, my grandmother's written and oral history," Cockatoo-Collins said.
She described the annual event as crucial in connecting artists from remote corners of the country, supporting them to share stories and knowledge.
"When people look at that work, they can see that it's from the island that belongs to our family line: my granny's granny."
Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni, from the remote community of Milikapiti on the Tiwi Islands, took out the Traditional Adornment award for the unique baskets, armbands and headwear she crafted by hand.
This category, which encourages the creation of traditional regalia, recognises designs that are made and worn to express culture.
Minnapinni said her work was crafted using materials of cultural significance to Tiwi people, including pandanus leaves and bird feathers.
She learned her skills from an older sister, who has now passed away, so the art prize is especially significant.
Minnapinni said she hoped to share those skills with her younger family members.
"I'm really proud of myself, but also I had to do this to honour my old people, and my late sister, and just pass down the traditional knowledge."
