Artists
Nikau Hindin
Nikau Hindin (Ngai Tūpoto ki Motukaraka, Te Rarawa ki Hokianga, Ngāpuhi) is a barkcloth maker who works with aute (paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera) and natural earth pigments. Nikau has spent most of the past decade dedicated to remembering and reinvigorating the practice of aute in Aotearoa. Her practice is devoted to the life cycle of the paper mulberry plant, from its growing to processing the inner bark into a fine white cloth. Working intimately with plants, Hindin aligns her practices with the Maramataka. Using earth pigments, Hindin inscribes her aute pieces with design systems that come from rectilinear whatu raranga and tukutuku patterns. Using this textile design framework Hindin developed her star maps which document the rising and setting of stars on the horizon and come from the navigational system of the star compass. She uses her maps as mnemonics to record the movement of stars in relation to the Maramataka – the Māori Stellar Lunar Calendar. Hindin has recently turned her attention to creating manu aute, kites that were once created from aute. This has been a long time aspiration to materialise this taonga tuku iho, ancient practice.
Nikau is also teaching this knowledge to a new generation of makers and has great hopes and aspirations for the practice of aute in te ao Māori. Her apprenticeship program Te Uru Aute with Rongomai Grbic-Hoskins (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngātiwai) was about succession planning for aute and the laying the tuakana teina foundations for the practice.
Hindin has been included in a number of notable exhibitions, including O Quilombismo, House of World Cultures, Berlin, 2023, Manu Aute: Rere Runga Hau, Season Gallery, Auckland, 2022; Still Alive, Aichi Triennale, Tokoname, Japan, 2022; Walls to Live Behind, Rooms to Own, Auckland Art Gallery, 2022; Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai, Hastings City Gallery, (travelling solo produced by The Dowse) 2019–22. Kathmandu Triennale 2077, 2020 andKoloa: Women, Art, and Technology at Para Site, Hong Kong. Recent publications include: Te Uru Aute (co-edited with Rongomai Grbic-Hoskins, 2022). Hindin was also a contributor to the 2019 publication ‘Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania’, edited by Karl Chitham, Kolokesa Māhina-Tuai and Damian Skinner (an image of her work also features on the cover). Hindin’s works are in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki collection. Hindin has studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts, the University of Hawaii and Toihoukura, and is currently based in Turanga/Gisborne.