Pantjit Mary McLean is a respected elder of the Ngaatjatjarra people of the Western Desert. Now living in Kalgoorlie, she has experienced a life of huge variety. As a young woman and mother she came into contact with western life at Warburton and then further west as a musterer on the sheep stations in the eastern goldfields of Western Australia. However, her early life within the tradition of her culture gave and continues to sustain a prodigious knowledge of the Tjukurrpa or Dreaming. 

Pantjiti commenced drawing and painting in 1992 in a figurative manner and has since that time steadily established her position as a visual artist in Australia. She has won awards both for her art and her work with young people encouraging them through her commitment to a healthy lifestyle. She has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Curtin University for her contribution to the arts in Western Australia. 

Visually distinct because of the manner in which people, animals, birds and the topography of the land is portrayed, her work is instantly recognisable as being quirky and individual. Pantjiti Mary McLean enjoys drawing and painting her stories and memories.