Mary Adam was born and grew up in Ireland. She studied Medicine at University College Cork and worked two years in England before marrying and moving to the Caribbean.

Despite turning to painting relatively late in life Mary has been actively exhibiting her work for several decades. Her first solo show took place at Horizons Gallery in Trinidad in 2004, since then she has had several solo shows and participated in a number of group exhibitions.

In 2011, she completed the BA Hons Painting at the Open College of the Arts and currently is working from her London-based studio.