Mary was born and grew up in the Northern Territory in the Central Desert and lived with her family at Alcoota Station where she was introduced to painting at the age of thirteen by her Aunty. Her sisters and father are also artists. She moved to Engawala Community in 1980 where she still lives with her family.

Mary regularly paints at the new Engawala Art Centre where her work is for sale, she also sells at Northern Territory markets and exhibitions and through several local retail outlets. Mary’s artwork is also found on the Engawala Art Centre website. Mary likes to paint bush tucker and bush medicine that are found in the Central Desert area. She makes native jewellery often using seeds from the bean tree.

After attending Batchelor Institute for Indigenous Tertiary Education in Alice Springs, Mary completed a Certificate 3 in Visual Art in 2022.

The painting “Walking in Two Worlds”, which Mary contributed to, was purchased by the Attorney Generals Department in Canberra after being exhibited at the Vincent Lingiari Art Awards in 2016.

Mary was one of 11 Engawala Artists who wrote and illustrated a children's book titled "Tim's Journey Back In Time" written in English and Anmatjere about the 8 million year old Mega Fauna fossils found at Alcoota near Engawala Community.

Roots of a bush medicine plant

About Mary Tilmouth

Specifications