Born in Glasgow, Scotland, McKenzie studied for her BA at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee from 1995–1999 and at Karlsruhe Kunstakademie in Germany in 1998.
[citation needed] McKenzie first came to prominence when she won the EAST award at EASTinternational in 1999 which was selected by Peter Doig and Roy Arden.
She has since shown work in many exhibitions, such as “The Dictatorship of the Viewer” at the Venice Biennale, Becks Futures 2000 in London, Manchester and Glasgow and “Happy Outsiders” at Zacheta Gallery in Warsaw.
She has exhibited internationally at galleries and museums including Tate Britain in London, Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Early paintings appropriated the language of 1970s Scottish murals, while more recent projects have reconstructed archetypal domestic interiors by employing faux finishing techniques.