has a keen interest in adornment of personal taonga, often making her taonga from materials which are personally and culturally significant. These adornments manifest a physical connection of her genealogy, reclaiming her cultural connections. As well as adornment Reina is also interested in drawing, installation, film and the activation of spaces. Reina’s use of space draws on the thinking behind the SaVAge K’lub which looks at a relationship between time and space based on the Samoan concept of vÄ. This suggests that space requires people in it, to be activated; therefore Reina is not performing but activating.
Wrap my Bones in Wild Taro Leaves was Reina’s first solo exhibition at Mangere Arts Centre, 2015. The title comes from a Melanesian myth which tells of a woman who was killed. Her loved ones wrapped up her remains in wild taro leaves and after several days she lived again. Reina uses this metaphor as a way of connecting the personal taonga, moving image work and the activation all representing different bloodlines which are no longer alive. Through the activation of spaces she is able to connect all these people again to have a type of second life, once the connection is broken they go to rest again.
Reina has exhibited in a number of group and solo exhibitions including: Myths and Legends in my veins, Papakura Art Gallery, 2015; Wrap my bones in wild taro leaves, Mangere Arts Centre, 2015; Tufala Meri, SaVAge K’lub, Back to the Future, Waiheke 2015; Adornments by Tufala Meri, White Night, Artstation Toi Tu 2015; Outem Sin, SaVAge K’lub, Mangere Arts Centre, 2014; Whimsical Wishes, Nook Gallery, 2013.