Artists from the Top End Aboriginal community of Daly River have travelled to Los Angeles where their work is featured in a major exhibition at the University of California.
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Merrepen Arts Centre, in the community also known as Nauiyu, was chosen by curator Joanna Barrkman to be a part of the Aborignal Screen Printed Textiles from Australia's Top End exhibition on display at UCLA's Fowler Museum.
Arts Centre Director Cathy Laudenbach, as well as local artists Kieran Karritpul and Aaron McTaggart, have spent the last week in Los Angeles visiting the exhibition and sharing their skills and knowledge with American artists and art lovers.
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"We're both excited and proud to see this in America," Mr McTaggart said.
"We participated in a workshop yesterday and got to speak with Americans - artists and normal everyday people.
"We're loving it."
Mr Karritpul and Mr McTaggart, who are among six Merrepen artists with work in the exhibition, are the first people from their home community to travel to the United States or anywhere so far away.
"It's really a big honour," Ms Laudenbach said.
"When the show opened, the Australian Ambassador opened it.
"They're representing the whole community as artists as well as people."
They were able to fund their trip, which had to be postponed because of COVID-19, through a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts.
The trio have also spent time being tourists, visiting locations across the region including Malibu, Venice Beach and Hollywood Boulevard.
"It's just such an eye-opener seeing all the bad things on TV and being here and experiencing it, it's a different world for us," Mr McTaggart said.
"People are friendly [but] some things you see are different from home.
"It's a bit of a culture shock really."
He said their trip abroad was exciting for their whole community, who have been following their adventures through social media.
"We get video calls from home and Wadeye with people saying 'are you really in LA?'" he said.
"They're excited about us being here. They're travelling with us too too through Facebook."
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