ARTWORK from Eaglehawk Secondary College students will soon sit on proud display at the school's front, after a year-long project.
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It began as a project for Indigenous boys at the school, but as COVID-19 lockdowns sent most children to learn from home, any interested students still at school could join in.
Students have designed a set of vivid totems based on their culture, collectively entitled Standing Tall.
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Indigenous Programs Coordinator Judy Chalmers said putting the work on display signified they were standing strong and unified together, visible to the school and school community.
Ms Chalmers said the boys had designed totems based around ideas from their culture, or what they felt they needed to express.
She said the display at the front of school would let them see the artwork and what it represented: being strong and proud of their culture.
Designs include snakes, long neck turtles, platypus, hand prints and patterns based on flags.
Some students experimented with traditional applications, for instance using twigs and leaves.
Ms Chalmers said they students used inspiration from Indigenous cultures to develop their own patterns.
She said the totem artwork had been part of broader Indigenous cultural programs at the school.
These were in part to help students think about their culture, and to make sure they stayed connected to school, she said.
The totems will be put on display next week, but Ms Chalmers said they were already attracting notice from any teacher who walked into the room.
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