Lola Greeno grew up on Cape Barren Island in the Bass Strait, north of Tasmania, where her childhood was marked by the prevailing societal attitudes and government policies concerning Aborigines. Until 1951, the Cape Barren Island Reserve Act meant that her community was segregated to an Aboriginal reserve. In the late 1950s her family left Cape Barren Island to live on another of the Bass Strait islands, Flinders Island, where they found themselves referred to as 'half-castes'. Greeno sees her art work as a response to this personal history, striving to create work in recognition of the difficulties her people encountered.

From an early age, Greeno absorbed the ways of collecting and preparing the unique shell species used by generations of her ancestors to make exquisite necklaces. Later, after moving to mainland Launceston with her family, she studied the ancient art further with her mother, together playing important roles in an intergenerational movement which has seen a vibrant reworking of shell necklace making, their fragile beauty now commanding world attention. Undertaking formal studies from 1993, Greeno completed an Associate Diploma in Fine Arts (Textiles) at the Tasmanian School of Art Launceston, University of Tasmania, followed in 1997 by a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the same institution. Her work has been included in numerous national exhibitions since 1995, including 'Beyond the Pale: Contemporary Indigenous Art: 2000 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art' and in 2017 the National Gallery of Australia's 'Defying Empire: National Indigenous Art Triennial'. Her shell necklaces and basket-work is represented in key museum collections, including the Art Gallery of South Australia, Powerhouse Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, National Maritime Museum, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Queen Victoria Museum (Launceston), Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), QAGOMA, National Gallery of Australia and National Gallery of Victoria.