Atarangi Anderson and Georgia Tikaputini Douglas Hood each work with whenua-born materials — aute and uku — to hold and transmit whakapapa. Anderson’s kiriaute practice moves between onamata and anamata — between the past and the future. The aute cloth carries the imprint of tīpuna while remaining in service to mokopuna, used within whānau contexts such as tangihanga and birth. Hood’s amphora-like vessels approach figuration through clay, where anthropomorphic bodies emerge as acknowledgements of tīpuna presence and vehicles for processing intergenerational grief. Across both practices, material becomes a site where wairua, memory, and whenua are held in tension — the aute carrying non-linear time through its fibres, and the uku forming bodies that carry their own mauri.

Both wāhine Māori are looking to hold tight to Māoritanga — carving, embossing, lifting up, uncovering an essence.

     Our place in these waters, on this whenua.
‍ ‍Mau āhua mana wāhine. Mau āhua Māori.

Mau Āhua is accompanied by a commissioned essay by Eve Armstrong-Coop (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha).