Te Atiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Toa Rangātira, Ngati Raukawa.
Erena completed her MMVA at Massey with first class honours in 2009, and since then has been raising her two young children, teaching into the Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts at Toioho ki Āpiti, and actively developing her own art practice.
Erena has a collaborative practice as a member of Mata Aho Collective. With a conceptual framework founded within the contemporary realities of mātauranga Māori, this collective produces large-scale fibre-based installation producing works with a single collective authorship that are bigger than their individual capabilities.
In addition to her role within the collective, Erena maintains her photography-based practice which explores the way this medium is woven into the framework of traditional Maori custom and ritual.
