About Me

Kia ora! I’m Emma.

Artist. Educator. Storyteller. Migrant woman. Mother.

I was born in Aotearoa New Zealand, a place where land, story, relationship and movement are woven into everything. It is a fine entanglement. From early childhood, drawing was how I understood the world — my first language of expression. That love led me to study fine arts and visual communication, and eventually into museum education, where I discovered the beauty of objects as carriers and activators of stories, migrations, memory and relationship.

My creative life has always been active and evolving. After many years of being focused on drawing and painting, research, writing and spoken word, I found myself drawn increasingly into blending the modes and telling stories more purposefully with word, space and image. I am the author of a graphic novel, a long-form visual story that grew out of years of drawing, research, reflection, and lived experience. I’m now deep into my second graphic work — a continuation of my commitment to storytelling through images, voice, and layered narrative.

On Being an Outsider and Fighting the Disconnect

But it wasn’t until I migrated myself — first to Spain, where I lived, worked, loved, and became a mother — that I truly understood what it feels like to rebuild your voice in a new language. I know the disorientation of arriving in a country where you don’t yet have the words you need. I know the tenderness of trying to parent, work, advocate, and live while still learning how to speak. I know what it means to feel disempowered, and what it takes to reclaim your voice as a woman in difficult circumstances, far from home.

I have on my bookshelf, the photo of a famous woman of my country, Makareti Papakura, who my great-great grandparents would have known. She was possibly the first inidigenous woman to get a degree from Oxford University. She studied there in the late 1920s when few women were there. She tragically died just weeks before her final examinations. The Master’s degree was posthumously awarded to her only in September 2025 and I had the honour of being able to attend the celebration at Oxford with her whānau. She was a woman who walked in many worlds. She was a migrating bird, a brilliant mind and a woman who broke barriers. Her photo has been in my diary to help me keep moving forward as I also stepped as a (very) mature student, alone into study, fighting many obstacles.

I recently rediscovered something unexpected: movement. Walking long distances. Running in the open air. Being held by nature. These became meditative portals — tiny wormholes back to the girl I used to be, the one who loved movement, imagination, freedom, possibility. Running returned me to her. It reminded me that our younger selves often hold the hope we need to move forward as grown women.

Walking the land, listening to the rhythm of breath and footfall, feeling the world open around me informs my work.

Experience

Education and Achievements

2024 - Present: Practice-based Ph.D, Fine Arts, Te Whitikau o Rehua School of Art, Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand. See Koekoeā Studio

2008: Master in Programming and Web Design, Spain

2006: Portrait painting under the tutelage of Seville Painter Meña Morillas, Spain

2000: Landscape painting under the tutelage of Seville Painter Paco Broca, Spain

1999: Cambridge CELTA, Seville, Spain

1995: Post Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies ( Equivalent of present Master) Massey University, Palmerston North New Zealand

1991 – 1994: Ilam School of Fine Art Canterbury University, Christchurch New Zealand

List of Projects, Collaborations, Presentations, Performance, Workshops & Exhibitions

August 2025: ASLE Conference Dublin, spoken word - Time

July 2025: Cambridge Open Studios installation at Artspace, Cambridge, UK

November 2024: Tabling at Thought Bubble Fest, Harrogate, UK

July 2024: Cambridge Open Studios installation at Artspace, Cambridge, UK.

July 2023: Cambridge Open Studios, Pop-up Installation of a Graphic Novel in Process: Exhibition a Conversation, Exhibition as Research, Cambridge, UK

July 2021: Cambridge Open Studios: Exhibition and workshop drop-in space, Cambridge, UK

July 2020: Cambridge Open Windows, Citywide Lockdown Exhibition, Cambridge, UK

Jan – March 2020: Migration Stories Project: In collaboration with HonC!, community project gathering and responding to migration stories of our community. Paused during the pandemic.

October 2019: Ways of Seeing: Drawing as a Pathway to Deeper Thinking: Image Conference, Brussels

August 2019: New Work on Paper: Whitespace Contemporary Art, Auckland, Aoteaora New Zealand

April 2019: Workshop: Ways of Seeing: Drawing as a Pathway to Deeper Thinking: IATEFL Conference, Liverpool, UK

October 2018 to present: Artists in Schools Project and Artist Residency: Fawcett Primary School, Cambridge, UK

October 2018: Athens Image Conference Workshop, Athens, Greece

April 2018: A Workshop in Three Acts & Artist in Residence: Hilton and Brighton Centre, IATEFL International Conference, Brighton, UK

July 2017: Infinity Has No Centre: New Work: Whitespace Contemporary Art, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

December 2016: Cinco Años: Group Show at Wabi Sabi Gallery, Seville, Spain

November 29 2016: Paintings: Whitespace Gallery, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

October 2016: The Image Conference: Talk: Artists in Schools for Language Learning, Malta

May 2016: Colegio Beaterio de la Santisima Trinidad: Artists in Schools for Language Learning Project, Seville, Spain

November 2015: Group Show: Arusha Gallery at the Edinburgh Art Fair, Edinburgh, UK

October 2015: Innovate ELT Conference: Talk: Building Community for Teacher Development, Barcelona, Spain

May 2015: Group Show: Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, UK

April 2015: Nada en Común: Group Show at Wabi Sabi Gallery, Seville, Spain

October 2014: Learning Technology SIG: Talk: Reflections on Building an Online Course and Social Learning, Dublin, Ireland

May 2014: Postcards from the Garden of the Moorish King: Whitespace Gallery, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

August 2013: Witness: Whitespace Gallery, Auckland Aotearoa New Zealand

August 2012: Irene Ferguson and Emma Pratt: Witness: Hastings City Art Gallery, Aotearoa New Zealand

August 2010: Look up Kathie Visual Work and Monologue: Whitespace Gallery, Auckland Aotearoa New Zealand

August 2008: 40 Day Visual Work, Video, Audio and Spoken Works: GNS Science, Lower Hutt Whitespace Gallery, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

November 2007 -present: Christmas Group Shows Whitespace Gallery, Aotearoa Auckland, New Zealand

October, November 2007: Work from the Sanlucar Residency: Whakariuka nga Manu Inquietas son las Aves: New Works Solo Exhibition The British Institute, Seville and Tartaneros4, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain

September 2007: The Island Dweller New Works: Whitespace Gallery, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

August 2007: TJFA Celebrating 10 Years Group Show: Taylor Jensen Gallery Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand

May 2007: Group Show: Peter Rae Gallery Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand

August 2006: Elvis is a Go Man: Whitespace Gallery Aotearoa Auckland, New Zealand

October 2005: Ki a Te Popi: Whitespace Gallery, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

August 2005: Journey to the Mountain: Taylor Jensen Gallery Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand

March 2005: Stations of the Cross: St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand

October 2004: The Desert Road: Martinborough Gallery for Contemporary Art Martinborough, Aotearoa New Zealand

2003: Objects found on Shelves and Tables: McCormack Studio Gallery Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

2003: Interior: Taylor Jensen Gallery Palmerston North, New Zealand

2002: Home Land: Taylor Jensen Gallery Palmerston North, New Zealand

2001: Tres Mujeres en el Ateneo Group show: Ateneo Seville, Spain

1995: Time Marking: Community Arts Centre Hastings, New Zealand

2024 Alumni Scholarship Recipient

2023 Long Listed First Graphic Novel Prize, UK

2019 Finalist in the Parkin Drawing Prize Aotearoa New Zealand

2014 Finalist in the Focus Abengoa International Painting Prize, Spain

2007 Finalist in the Norsewear Award, Aotearoa New Zealand

2005 Runner up Molly Morpeth Canaday Award, Aotearoa New Zealand

Awards

Location

Based in the UK, but from Aotearoa New Zealand, I draw inspiration from the rich histories and stories of our culture, creating art that resonates.

United Kingdom

Cambridge