Opening Weekend

Betty Muffler is an artist and highly respected senior woman and renowned ngangkari (traditional healer) who lives and works at Iwantja Arts in Indulkana, on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia.

Betty was born at Yalungu SA, a site associated with Kalaya Tjukurpa (emu ancestral creation story) and emus and their tracks are a recurring motif in her art. Betty grew up at various locations across the APY Lands, including the Ernabella Mission after her family members were impacted by the British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Emu Field.

Betty started working at Iwantja Arts in Indulkana later in life and has developed a distinctive multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, drawing, printmaking and tjanpi (native grass) weaving. Her artistic practice is deeply grounded in cultural knowledge, connection to Country and a lifelong commitment to healing and caring for community.

Mehwish Iqbal is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, printmaking, textiles, ceramics, sculpture and installation. Her practice interrogates womanhood, power, migration, and the fragile states shaped by geopolitical conflict. Through community engaged processes, she creates works that respond to the resilience and vulnerabilities of marginalized people across historical and contemporary contexts. Nature forms a vital thread in her work, where animal symbolism, flora and fauna, and archaic references illuminate the tensions between human agency and hierarchical systems.

Iqbal’s recent achievements include major international residencies such as the 2025 DPA Visual Arts Residency at SAC Gallery (Thailand) and the Cité Internationale des Arts residency supported by the Art Gallery of NSW. She was a 2025 Debra Porch Award and Dyason Scholarship recipient, and her work was aquired in the 2025 Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW. Her solo exhibition Shifting Ecologies (2025) at Cité des Arts in Paris further marks her growing global presence.

Chikchika (formerly Music Yared) features Haftu Reda and Anbessa Gebrehiwot originally from the Tigray region of Ethiopia with renowned Oromo singer, Mulu Baqqalaa. Singing about love, distance, separation and culture, their songs are accompanied by the traditional instruments of krar (5-string lyre) and masinko (single string violin).

With a focus on their East African cultural heritage, Chikchika embraces new sonic territories with a beautiful modesty, camaraderie and a deep groove.

Formed in 2017 and led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Alec Marshall (formerly of Hot Palms and Sui Zhen), Blue Divers is an Australian experimental instrumental project rooted in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. Named after a local bushcare regeneration group in Marshall’s hometown of Towradgi, the ensemble draws together a fluid, rotating lineup of musicians to weave sparse, atmospheric soundscapes that blend ambient jazz,
gentle minimalism, and pastoral lounge textures.

Aunty Deidre Martin is a Walbanga woman of the Yuin nation and is a respected Elder, knowledge holder and artist. She has over 20 years of experience working as an Aboriginal Discovery Ranger and cultural mentor and is passionate about teaching and sharing her deep connection to her land and culture.