Betty Muffler Ngangkari ngura (healing place)

This is my Country, Yalungu, south of Watarru, in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia. It is a place where the emus drink at the waterhole. The emus made this shelter at Yalungu, which I love to paint, and their emu tracks were made as they travel. There is a rock shelter above, and below this there is good ground for the emus.

My paintings are about ngangkari (traditional healers/healing practices) and sites related to healing. I’ve painted rock holes and the water flowing through the landscape, just like the energy that flows through people and places – it’s invisible to most people, but ngangkari can see spirits and feel a lot of different energy.

Betty Muffler, 2020