February 5, 2021

Tai Timu - Nikau Hindin
and Artspace Aotearoa

“When I was first learning how to make aute, I thought there was only one way to make aute. But there are many. It’s really about balancing time and water. It’s also important to be flexible and just respond to the plant and what’s in front of you.

I’m cleaning the fibres. Flushing out all of the sap. There’s lots of water inside of it and so I’m extracting it. The tide is in - and I’m taking the tide out.

I love sharing this process of transformation. You start off with a stalk with bark on it - then it turns into this beautiful piece of cloth. It’s magical, it’s alchemy. I think that’s really special.”

- Nikau.

All images were taken with the Sony A7III camera with the Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM lens and the Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens.