Mackinlay Colling's visual art piece depicting a doll from her childhood was selected from almost 200 artworks to be included in the annual Exit Art Exhibition, a collection of work highlighting the best visual designs from the NT.

Inspired by Alexa Meade - an American installation artist best known for her portraits painted directly onto the human body - Ms Colling said she wanted to focus on short-lived beauty.

"The beauty and grace of the human form is something I have always been fascinated by," Ms Colling said.

"I wanted to display in my work not only how beautiful the human body can be, but also how we ourselves make it beautiful.

"Jewellery, tattoos, make up, and fashion - all things we do to our body to change it and make it different... But I only wanted to focus on one thing - painting."

Prompted by her year 12 art teacher Kim Shanahan last year to enter her work, the young artist is among just 53 students to be included in the exhibition.

"Her work is ground-breaking and highly original," Mrs Shanahan said.

"She's taken a 3-D element and created an image where you can't tell if it is three-dimensional or not."

An avid artist, the recent graduate has a long list of local pieces in her name including a large scale mural of bats and mangoes on the main street of Katherine, and a mural of native animals at her school.

"I taught her for three years, she worked endlessly and tirelessly on her art," Mrs Shanahan said.

"She spent every spare moment in that art studio, so I wasn't surprised she was selected to showcase her art for its highly engaging nature.

"She's created a beautiful tension with reality."

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