Thi Vaihū
Kahu Aute: Te Kore, 2026
aute (paper mulberry bark), muka, tanekaha and paru traditional dyes, manioke starch
110 x 75 cm
Copyright The Artist
Thi Vaihū (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, Waikato Tainui, Tonga) is a kiriaute, or Māori barkcloth practitioner. Vaihū grows, harvests and processes aute from Te Henga, Bethells Beach, New Zealand....
Thi Vaihū (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, Waikato Tainui, Tonga) is a kiriaute, or Māori barkcloth practitioner. Vaihū grows, harvests and processes aute from Te Henga, Bethells Beach, New Zealand.
Thi’s work is an ode to process and seeks to expand connections to community, Te Kore (the great primordial chaos of nothing) and whakapapa. Thi’s practice is preoccupied with the re-remembering of traditional techniques of maintaining pa aute as well as the processing of aute, muka, paru dye and whenua pigments.
The works set out in this portfolio span three separate collections created over the last four years of Thi’s kiriaute explorations.
The first collection is an examination of whakapapa and process, from Thi’s 2026 KahuAute: Tāwhai series. This collection’s focal point is a kahu aute or traditional Māori cloak, used to adorn a person in tapū, important and transitional phases of life, to tap into the raw potential of Te Kore. The mahi required to engage in the traditional methods of creation to make this taonga collapse time - navigating and engaging Te Kore with guidance from bothtupuna and mokopuna.
The second collection of works is the Whenua series. This collection uses a backdrop of whenua pigment collected created from uku collected from Thi’s current turangawaewae Te Henga, and ancestral homeland, the Hokianga. These works explore place and context through the use of ancestral whenua adorned in lacey aute - situating the works in place, much like our tupuna prioritise the contextualisation of genealogy and selves in geographical space.
The third collection are a series of miscellaneous pieces. These comprise a drapery of beaten aute, showcasing the nuance and variation in texture evident in aute, and a mixed-media piece of aute with embroidered manulua, a traditional Tongan motif, paying homage to Thi’s Tongan whakapapa.
Thi’s work is an ode to process and seeks to expand connections to community, Te Kore (the great primordial chaos of nothing) and whakapapa. Thi’s practice is preoccupied with the re-remembering of traditional techniques of maintaining pa aute as well as the processing of aute, muka, paru dye and whenua pigments.
The works set out in this portfolio span three separate collections created over the last four years of Thi’s kiriaute explorations.
The first collection is an examination of whakapapa and process, from Thi’s 2026 KahuAute: Tāwhai series. This collection’s focal point is a kahu aute or traditional Māori cloak, used to adorn a person in tapū, important and transitional phases of life, to tap into the raw potential of Te Kore. The mahi required to engage in the traditional methods of creation to make this taonga collapse time - navigating and engaging Te Kore with guidance from bothtupuna and mokopuna.
The second collection of works is the Whenua series. This collection uses a backdrop of whenua pigment collected created from uku collected from Thi’s current turangawaewae Te Henga, and ancestral homeland, the Hokianga. These works explore place and context through the use of ancestral whenua adorned in lacey aute - situating the works in place, much like our tupuna prioritise the contextualisation of genealogy and selves in geographical space.
The third collection are a series of miscellaneous pieces. These comprise a drapery of beaten aute, showcasing the nuance and variation in texture evident in aute, and a mixed-media piece of aute with embroidered manulua, a traditional Tongan motif, paying homage to Thi’s Tongan whakapapa.