Sally Liki Nanii was born and grew up at Kirriwirri in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia. She came to Bidyadanga with her brother Meridou in the 1960s when her father took her away from her mother. This was very sad for Liki and her mother; they never saw one another again.
Liki is a senior law woman who leads much of the singing and dancing at Bidyadanga.
In mid 2003, the senior people at Bidyadanga met with Emily Rohr, director of Short Street Gallery, Broome, and a regular visitor to the community, to request art materials so that they could start painting.
Liki was one of the first to experiment first with acrylic on paper and then canvas. Her work was exhibited in the first Bidyadanga Artists group show Manjiliyajarra: An exhibition by the Yulparija and Mangala artists, Short Street Gallery, Broome, 2003. She also participated in the major contemporary exhibition 2004: Australian Visual Culture Now, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, 2004.
