[2][3][4] His early influences include artist Cliff Whiting and the Peter Gossage series of Māui illustrated books.

He completed a Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts at Massey University in Palmerston North in 2000.

There he studied under Robert Jahnke, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, Shane Cotton and the Toioho ki Apiti programme.

[3][5] He has hands-on experience in Māori arts, working on three meeting house projects under tohunga whakaio Pakariki (Paki) Harrison 1995-2000 and kowhaiwhai artist Peter Boyd, and has been influenced by Māori curators Megan Tamati-Quennell and Ngahiraka Mason.

[8] Borell resigned from his role at the art gallery in December 2020 two weeks after Toi Tū Toi Ora opened stating that there was a lack of control awarded to him in the lead up and calling for 'colonial institutions to share power more equally'.

[6][1] In 2022 it was announced he would return to Auckland War Memorial Museum as Curator Taonga Māori, the role previously held by Chanel Clarke.

In: Nagam, J; Tamati-Quennell, M & Lane, C (Eds), Becoming Our Future, Global Indigenous Curatorial Practice , ARP Books, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.