NIKAU HINDIN

Born in 1991 in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi), Hindin hand‑makes aute from paper mulberry bark and paints with natural pigments, often mapping stars, seasons, and ancestral routes. Her barkcloth paintings and manu aute (kites) bring together customary knowledge, celestial navigation, and contemporary abstraction, and have been presented at major exhibitions including the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024), Aichi Triennale (2022), Auckland Art Gallery, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.

Practice and Themes

Hindin’s practice is grounded in the physical processes of cultivating, harvesting, and beating aute, as well as preparing pigments from ochres and carbon, so that each work is materially tied to specific whenua and ecosystems. Star maps, navigational lines, and kite forms recur throughout her work, translating mātauranga Māori—knowledge systems around voyaging, seasonality, and cosmology—into pared‑back but densely coded compositions. Rather than treating tradition as static, she approaches aute as a living technology that must be re‑learnt through embodied labour and collective research, aligning her with wider Indigenous movements of cultural resurgence across Moana Oceania.

Exhibitions and Recognition

Nikau Hindin has been presented at major exhibitions including the 24th Biennale of Sydney (2024), Aichi Triennale (2022), projects at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (notably Walls to Live Behind, Rooms to Own, 2022), and O Quilombismo at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2023).

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Ocula | 2026