We often hear that Australia is home to the world’s longest surviving and continuous culture. You can experience this for yourself with the latest offering at the National Portrait Gallery.

Thread: Connecting stories and community is a new exhibition tracing the connections between works from the NPG’s collection and stories significant to First Nations people, exploring the relationship between garments, histories and Indigenous knowledge systems.

It began as a listening project with members of Logan’s community in southeast Queensland, in which participants selected works that resonated with their own experiences.

It’s now on display at the NPG.

The exhibition features a series of 19th-century prints by artist and draughtsman William Fernyhough, depicting First Nations people wrapped in blankets.

Among the historical works are contemporary photographs of influential Australians, including David Gulpilil, Marcia Langton and Oodgeroo Noonuccal, as well as existing and newly commissioned works by Logan-based artists.

These include pieces by Quandamooka woman (with cultural links to Eulo and the South Sea Islander community in Vanuatu) Kyra Mancktelow, Pamela See (Xue Mei Ling), and the Sāmoan/Australian collective Lanatina and Sualauvi Ah Kuoi.

Central to the exhibition are major new works created during its presentation at Logan Art Gallery – a possum-skin cloak made by Kyra Mancktelow in collaboration with her family, community and Elders; a large-scale photographic portrait of the cloak by the Ah Kuois; and delicate papercuts by See.

Kyra began her response to the NPG’s collections by creating a lino print depicting a scene from the blanket list, an 1814 practice in which blankets were distributed to Aboriginal people to suppress cultural practices such as making animal-skin cloaks.

“For me, I like to go through archives and take ownership, as an Indigenous person, and re-document these histories through an Indigenous perspective,” she explained.

“For my mob, we’d wear a possum skin cloak, and that was the traditional tool we’d use, not only for ceremony but to keep warm in everyday life.

“[With] the blanket … you’re replacing our traditional object, a possum skin cloak that was weatherproof in the rain and replacing it with blankets where, in the rain, they carry diseases, and in the rain they’d get soaked, and that would bring a lot of diseases and sickness to our people.”

The Indigenous people in the lino print are depicted without facial features, both signifying the identities that were taken away and allowing any First Nations person to relate themselves and their ancestors to the history.

This led to the fashioning of the possum skin cloak, made with materials sourced from New Zealand and sewn together in workshops and yarning circles.

Later, a photographic portrait of a local Elder wearing the cloak surrounded by community members was taken by Lanatina and Sualauvi Ah Kuoi.

Kyra Mancktelow with her possum skin cloak (front) and lino print (background) for the Thread exhibition. Photo: National Portrait Gallery.

Collective Lanatina and Sualauvi Ah Kuoi with their photographic portrait for the Thread exhibition. Photo: National Portrait Gallery.

Pamela See with her papercut designs for the Thread exhibition. Photo: National Portrait Gallery.

Clothing and body adornment have carried meaning, expressed identity and embedded wearers in their culture and community for thousands of years.

NPG director Bree Pickering said that, in this exhibition, Thread was both a material and an idea – something could be sewn, woven and worn, but also something that tied stories and people together.

“This exhibition spans time and it brings the stories of the past into the present, keeping our histories alive and relevant today,” she said.

“[To the artists], your works have brought new meaning to the works in the collection; you actually extended the stories that exist within those collection works.

“This exhibition is a testament, I think, to the extraordinary resilience of First Nations people.”

While Thread started as a look back at the past, Kyra said it was also about looking ahead.

She explained her culture was already continuing through the clothing and adornment mob chose to wear, but this wouldn’t have been possible without the strength shown by ancestors.

“Just by living, thriving, talking about culture, we’re continuing to spread our traditional practices … it’s growing stronger and stronger,” Kyra said.

“I feel like we’re slowly awakening our practices and bringing them back to life, strengthening that thread.”

Thread: Connecting stories and community is open to the public at the National Portrait Gallery from 4 July to 13 September.