Nikau Hindin

Nikau Hindin (Ngāi Tūpoto, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is a contemporary Māori artist and aute maker whose practice is centred on the renewal of aute, or Māori barkcloth. Made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, aute was once used in Aotearoa for clothing, adornment, wrapping taonga and the making of manu aute, but the practice had not been actively maintained here for more than a century. Hindin has spent more than a decade researching, relearning and extending this knowledge, positioning aute as a living art form with a continuing place within contemporary Māori culture.

Hindin’s engagement with aute began through her studies with Matua Dante Bonica at the University of Auckland, whose teaching in traditional tool-making and material practices provided an important foundation for her approach. In 2013, while studying at the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa, she encountered Hawaiian kapa-making, later returning to O‘ahu to deepen this learning under her main kumu, Verna Takashima.