Book documents Māori claywork

Ngā Kaihanga Uku: Māori Clay Artists is a new book written by Tokomaru Bay artist and renowned potter, Baye Pēwhairangi Riddell. Kaupapa Māori reporter Matai O’Connor had a kōrero with Baye to learn more about the book . . .

The rise of a Māori ceramics movement has been recorded in a new book to make sure the history is accurate and accessible for all to learn from.

Ngā Kaihanga Uku: Māori Clay Artists, published by Te Papa Press on October 12, tells the story of the work of the national clayworkers’ collective, Ngā Kaihanga Uku, established in 1987, to restore that traditional ancestral knowledge.

It also details the connections the collective established with Indigenous cultures with unbroken ceramic traditions, which helped shape a contemporary Māori expression in clay.

This book, by renowned potter Baye Pēwhairangi Riddell (Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare), is the first comprehensive overview of Māori claywork, its origins, loss and revival, to be published in Aotearoa.

Richly illustrated, it introduces readers to the practices of the five founders of Ngā Kaihanga Uku and also surveys the work of the next generation.

Baye, who became a full-time potter in 1974 and who was the first Māori artist to commit to this profession, co-founded Ngā Kaihanga Uku in 1986 with the late Manos Nathan (Te Roroa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi).

They were later joined by the late Colleen Waata Urlich (Te Popoto o Ngāpuhi ki Kaipara and Te Rarawa), Pareau Corneal (Ngāti Uenuku ki Manganui a te Ao and Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and Wi Taepa (Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Ātiawa).

Ngā Kaihanga Uku was born out of a two-week hui at Pākirikiri Marae in Tokomaru Bay in 1987.

Baye said: “At the time, pottery was taking influence from Europe and Asia, but we wanted to be using our own narratives, our own tikanga with the clay of the land.”

At this hui, the founding members worked out what their kaupapa was.

Baye describes it as a three-stranded plait.

“The first strand is to approach clay from a Māori perspective, each using their own whakapapa and stories to draw from,” he said.

“The second is they would share everything — such as resources and knowledge — with each other.

“The third was they would make connections with other Indigenous

artists who had a tradition of clay ceramics.

“Those three strands of the plait have sustained us for nearly 35 years.”

Ngā Kaihanga Uku first thought of writing a book around the mid-2000s to chronicle the history, but they couldn’t find anyone to write it, so the idea was parked.

About a decade later, Manos Nathan, one of the founding members, got sick with cancer and while he was ill he asked Baye if he could write the book.

“To put his mind at ease I said, ‘Yeah OK mate’.”

Manos passed away on September 2, 2015. Then a week later, another founding member, Colleen Urlich, passed away.

“I thought, well, there is definitely a bit of urgency now to get the book done and get the history recorded accurately.”

Baye decided to use the time during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 to get the story written.

Baye has written songs and articles for NZ Potter magazine, but has never written anything on this scale.

“I did find it a bit challenging at times. I had to do a large amount of research. Even recalling my own events was a bit hard at times. You get a bit forgetful sometimes.

“The important thing was getting it down as accurately as possible. History can be distorted so I had to make sure everything was correct.”

One thread of the plait was the connection to Māori.

There is no evidence of ceramic making in Māori history.

Baye said that if you go very far back into the whakapapa and the migration to Aotearoa, there are examples of cultures making ceramics in Fiji and as far east as Samoa and Tonga, but not Aotearoa.

But with Ngā Kaihanga Uku, they made sure to incorporate Māori perspectives into their mahi.

“We are not too prescriptive about it, it is for each one of our members to interpret from their own experiences and place in their journey of cultural reclamation.

“For some, working with clay from a Māori perspective has enabled or assisted in their cultural reclamation as well.”

The book explores uses of clay in different rituals.

Some of the clayworks have been used in ritual practices related to birth and death.

Baye said they had been asked for pito pots, pots for whenua (placenta), the afterbirth, to use to bury back in the whenua (land).

“It was a traditional practice for Maori women to bury the placenta in the whenua. However, due to urbanisation and more women giving birth in hospitals, this practice diminished,” he said.

But over the years Baye and others have been asked for pots to be made to be used in that ritual and to be used to hold people’s ashes.

Baye is glad the book is finished as now the knowledge can be passed onto the next generation.

He acknowledges and thanks all those who have contributed to this book in

one way or another, as well as Te Papa Press for publishing it and supporting this kaupapa.