Biography

Mickaela Napangardi Lankin was born in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. She began her education at her local school, then attended Yirara College in Alice Springs, a boarding school for indigenous students. She now lives in Yuendumu with her family and young son.

Mickaela began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu in 2019. She paints her Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) – Ngalyipi and Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) – Warntungurru, stories relating directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They have been passed down through the generations for millennia. She uses an unrestricted palette, blending her own patterns with ancestral motifs to depict her traditional Jukurrpa.

When she is not painting, she spends time with her family.