Mahiriki is a full Cook Islander who was born and raised in New Zealand. At the age of twenty two she made her first visit to the Cook Islands. After completing her Bachelor in Fine Arts in 1997 at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand she spent nine months in Auckland and then decided to spend some time in the Cook Islands producing work. Being in her second year based on Rarotonga, she has painted full time, has undertaken commissions, her most prominent to date being for world reknown company Kodak and she is now currently working as Curator at the Cook Islands National Museum.

Her painting is a combination of her photographic style incorporated with a newly discovered love for the vibrant colours of the Cook Islands landscape. Being qualified in the arts, she has been an artist who has introduced new ideas to the arts community in the Cook Islands. The themes of her work revolve around her personal journeys of the Polynesian and European cultures – their differences, their similarities and coming to terms with blending these two worlds. Mahiriki is 27, and is an artist who seeks to depict her love of an abstract style with that of her Cook Islands background.