Betty Muffler & Maringka Burton
Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country), 2022
Betty Muffler and Maringka Burton are highly respected Anangu ngangkari (traditional healers). Their collaborative commission focuses on the healing of ngura (country) and of Anangu people in the aftermath of British atomic testing at Maralinga and Emu Field during the 1950s. The fluent lines evoke the movement of water in the deserts, suggestive of the power of ngangkari to control the weather systems and bring rain.
The painting is enriched by the contrasting painting styles of both artists. Whereas Burton uses a large brush to generate vibrant, flowing lines that evoke roads and waterholes of Anamara Piti, the Caterpillar Dreaming site near Irrunytju, Muffler prefers to paint aerial views of Yalungu south of Wataru, almost exclusively in colour-kutju (one colour). She employs small fine brushes for painting, pushing white tones across the canvas to create a scratchy, topographical vision of ngura.
- Artist / Maker
- Betty Muffler (1944) Maringka Burton (1950)
- Creation Date
- 2022
- Place created
- Australia - Arnhem Land
- Collection
- University Art Collection
- Subjects
- Art and Design - Paintings
- Materials used
- synthetic polymer paint on linen
- Dimensions
(H x W x D) - unstretched canvas (irregular) 300 x 500 cm
- Credit line
- The University of Melbourne Art Collection. Commissioned, 2022
- Accession number
- 2022.003.001
- Copyright
- © Betty Muffler and Maringka Burton Request Access
