Sarrita King has always held onto the experience of sitting with some of Australia's great Indigenous artists and watching them paint.
And now, as a star of the art world herself, the 34-year-old Darwin artist is seeing her own work displayed alongside those same greats.
And not just displayed, but poured into a huge space, filling the corners with light, sound and colour, as part of a new large-scale art experience at the National Museum of Australia.
Connection, which opens to the public on June 8, is from the same team behind the recent Van Gogh Alive experience, a multi-sensory exhibition that re-imagined some of the Dutch artist's most famous works.
Using cutting-edge light and sound technology, Connection transforms more than 300 original artworks by 100 artists, including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Albert Namatjira, Tommy Watson, Gabriella Possum, Anna Pitjara and Lin Onus.
The works are projected on huge wall and floor panels throughout the vast exhibition space, in sync with music, voices and words.
King, whose works are included in the line-up, was emotional as she described the experience of being immersed in the work of her mentors, heroes and fellow artists.
"When I create an artwork, it flows from me - it's almost like it is that natural progression that flows from my hand," she said.
"Some of these artists that have passed now, but I did get to sit with them, and I did get to feel that flow from them into their artworks.
"Now I kind of understand when people walk into the gallery and fall in love with a work. I think that is the same feeling they get."
Founder of show producer Grande Experiences Bruce Peterson said he had come up with the idea multi-sensory art experiences back when he was based in Europe with three young children in tow in 2007.
Despite being dragged through some of Europe's grandest museums, the kids found it almost impossible to engage with the works.
Mr Peterson soon realised that many people of all ages felt the same way, and he embarked on a mission to create art shows that connected with a broad range of people, while still educating them about the world's great artists.
Today, Grande has displayed its works in more than 165 cities to 20 million visitors - with phones aloft, ready to capture the experience for themselves.
But while the museum is committed to collecting and honouring art by First Nations people, lead Indigenous curator Margo Neale maintained the show was as close to the authentic experience of communicating through art as the average punter was likely to get.
"In many ways, this is more true to our cultural way of transmitting or passing on knowledge or sharing knowledge," she said.
King, meanwhile, said she couldn't imagine anyone not feeling the intention of the artists as they stood in the space.
"I don't think you could come in here and not feel it," she said.
- Connection opens at the National Museum of Australia on June 8 and runs to October 9. Details and tickets at nma.gov.au.
