An expanded Koorie Heritage Trust is set to open to the public, featuring a snapshot of contemporary Aboriginal art from Australia's southeast.
The trust, in Melbourne's Federation Square, houses the largest collection of Koorie art and artefacts in Australia and is the only Aboriginal arts and culture centre of its kind in a capital city.
"For far too long First Nations people have been fringe dwellers, that's been part of the history," chief executive Tom Mosby told AAP.
"This is a real recognition of the place of First Nations people in the centre of a major metropolitan city."
The renovation positions KHT as one of Federation Square's three major cultural organisations, alongside the NGV and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Mosby said.
Much of the building was closed for six months for the renovations, led by Lyons and First Nations architect Jefa Greenaway of Greenaway Architects.
The timing of the opening is important, following the failed voice referendum and with Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission truth-telling process under way, Mosby said.
The trust is a physical representation of truth-telling, treaty, leadership and self-determination, he said.
The first exhibition for the new digs is the organisation's biggest community event of the year, the Koorie Art Show which opens Saturday.
More than 140 artists submitted work in response to an open call for entries, providing a snapshot of the latest Indigenous art from Australia's southeast, featuring sculpture, multi-media pieces, fibre art and photography.
The extra space means the trust can show off more of its permanent collection, give more opportunities to Koorie artists and create more programs for the public.
The organisation was established in 1985 as The Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Trust, in response to the alleged illegal trade in the relics and skeletal remains of Aboriginal Victorians.
It began acquiring significant cultural material including shields, spears and clubs from before European colonisation.
The Trust's role expanded to collecting oral histories, connecting members of the stolen generations with their family and culture, managing the state's only public collection dedicated to Koorie art and culture and showcasing new and emerging Aboriginal artists.
In 2015 the organisation moved into Federation Square's Yarra Building, which has now been renamed The Birrarung Building.
The Koorie Heritage Trust reopens with the 11th Koorie Art Show on Saturday.
