Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels was born in 1935, in the bush near Lappi Lappi Rock, an area located on Mount Doreen Station, an extensive cattle breeding station in NT of Australia. Mount Doreen is located between Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs and Nyirripi, 160km north-west of Yuendumu.

Mary Anne received a traditional Aboriginal education, that is, going bush with her parents and learning all about her country, its creation stories, its features and the flora and fauna that habited the land. She had four children, one son and three daughters, who also live in Nyirripi.

Mary Anne had many grandchildren. Mary Anne painted with Warlukurlangu Ar􀆟sts Aboriginal Corporation, from 2005 - 2012. Warlukurlangu Ar􀆟sts is an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, and has been providing the residents of Nyirripi with materials to paint since 2005.

Mary Anne painted her Father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings rela􀆟ng directly to Lappi Lappi, her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her father and mother and their parents before them for millennia. Her work was been included in numerous exhibitions of Aboriginal Art both nationally and internationally. When not painting or telling her stories to her grandchildren Mary Anne spend a lot of her 􀆟me hunting. She died in September 2012.