Living and working on Darug country in Penrith, New South Wales, Karen Lee (Mungarrja) is a Wiradjuri (peoples of the three rivers) artist of the Tubba-Gah clan, Dubbo NSW. In Aboriginal culture, traditional names are given by elders. 'Mungarrja' meaning 'mountain, was given to Karen by her Uncle Michael Gararroongoo Huddleston, a Roper River elder.

As a mature-aged student undertaking her Bachelor of Arts (Curtin University), Karen was exposed to many styles, concepts and thematic interests, and it was during this formative time that she began to focus on the concept of 'memory', which has since developed into the underlying theme of her practice: exploring the connection between landscape and memory and more specifically, the remnants and traces left in environments either in a physical form or as emotion.