Yikartu is a Manyjilyjarra woman born in the 1940s at Lalyipuka, north of Wirnpa in Juwaliny Country. Her ngurra [home Country, camp] lies at the northern boundary of Martu Country, around the Percival Lakes region and further northward. She lived a pujiman [traditional, desert dwelling] lifestyle until she was married and had a child, at which point the group she was travelling with first encountered a vehicle. Two Martu men and a missionary had travelled from the La Grange Mission at Bidyadanga to look for people still living in the desert. They gave Yikartu and her family food and fruit, and later returned to pick up Yikartu and everyone she was travelling with. Her family group was one of the last to leave the desert.
Yikartu lived in both Bidyadanga and Jigalong for a period, during which time she had three more daughters. During the Return to Country movement of the 1980s, Yikartu relocated to Punmu Aboriginal Community to be closer to her ngurra. Yikartu paints the jila [living water, snake] water sources running from Yulpu to Yimiri, Kupankurlu, Kurturrara and Wirnpa.