Ngangkari and Making Art

The artist Betty Muffler discusses her practice as  ngangkari (traditional healer) together with Brook Andrew and Yatjiki (Vicki) Cullinan (interpreter).

“Tjukurpa pulka; nganana wanka pulka mulapa; ngangkariku warka marili-tjara, ngura ngalimpa, walka ngalimpa.” (This is a big story, we have spoken a lot about what is important to us; ngangkari work, spirit journeys, our country, our paintings.)
— Betty Muffler and Maringka Burton

As highly-regarded ngangkari from Australia, Betty Muffler is a Pitjantjatjaraartist who joins digitally to share her process of painting and as ngangkari from their personal experiences. Together with Yatjiki (Vicki) Cullinan (interpreter) and Brook Andrew, Muffler will talk about her story and what is important to her. 

Born near Watarru, Betty Muffler grew up at the Ernabella Mission following the displacement and deaths of family members following the British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Emu Field. Surviving this experience motivates Muffler’s recurring depiction of healing sites. Muffler is a Pitjantjatjara senior woman and a highly-respected ngangkari.

Brook Andrew is an Australian Wiradjuriartist, curator and scholar. His practice imagines alternative futures and challenges limitations imposed by ongoing colonial actions to re-centre Indigenous ways of being. He is co-curator of a group show on caring, repairing and healing which will be presented at the Gropius Bau in 2022. 

Yatjiki (Vicki) Cullinan (interpreter) is a Yankunytjatjarawoman from Indulkana Community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia. Yatjiki is a senior artist and cultural liaison officer at Iwantja Arts. Vicki is a certified and highly regarded translator for both Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara.

Katharina Küster (moderator) is Assistant Curator of Ámà: 4 Days on Caring, Repairing and Healing. As a Curatorial Fellow at the Gropius Bau, she has worked on exhibitions and projects such as Rituals of Care (2020), Lee Mingwei: 禮 Li, Gifts and Rituals (2020) and Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective (2021).