Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngati Porou, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Ngāi Tahu

Kaaterina is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer whose practice spans painting, fine metal adornment, and digital media. Her work is deeply rooted in the relationship between people and place, particularly the ancestral landscape of Uawa, Tolaga Bay, on the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, where she was raised and continues to live.  

Her creative foundation draws on the teachings of Te Whare Wānanga o Te Rawheoro (The House of Learning of Te Rawheoro), a renowned centre of excellence where selected artisans once gathered to study, innovate, and master their craft before returning to their homelands to share and sustain this knowledge. 

Through her art, Kaaterina explores the transmission of mātauranga Māori (ancestral knowledge), including whakapapa (genealogy), pūrākau (ancestral narratives), and traditional design practices. Her works often employ layered lines, shape, form, patterns, and motifs to encode and communicate these stories across different media.  

For Kaaterina, the essence of art lies not only in the finished object but in the process itself—the act of creating, reimagining, reframing, and innovating. Her practice emphasizes the intangible knowledge embedded within ‘making’, highlighting how ancestral wisdom continues to shape contemporary expression.