For Encounters, Ames Yavuz presents Betty Muffler‘s newly commissioned monumental installation Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country). This immersive work represents Muffler’s most ambitious project to date, drawing on her dual role as both artist and ngangkari (traditional healer). The installation transforms the space into a profound meditation on healing, Country, and the enduring power of First-Nations knowledge systems.
Muffler’s practice emerges from her profound connection to Country and her experiences as a survivor of the British nuclear testing at Maralinga. Her large-scale paintings, presented within structures reminiscent of her rural studio, invite viewers into an intimate engagement with the land’s spiritual dimensions. The installation amplifies Tjukurpa (ancestral creation stories), offering audiences a window into 65,000 years of continued First-Nations history and knowledge.
“Through my paintings, you can see my ‘Ngangkari’ work: watching over people and also looking after my Country. My Country. This place is very important – we all need to look after each other and respect our home,” Muffler shared in a recent National Gallery of Australia interview for Vogue Australia.