Nikau Hindin (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is an artist working to reawaken Māori aute, more widely known as tapa. Aute was a canoe plant brought to Aotearoa by ancestress Whakaotirangi and then pounded into cloth to make adornments, garments (maro), and kites (manu aute). Hindin’s mission to re-learn the making of aute was inspired by her experiences sailing and being taught about waka haurua in Hawaiʻi. She is particularly interested in the sharing of knowledge about, and the collective production of, the material, which puts her in direct conversation with her ancestors’ practice.
Artworks
NIKAU HINDIN