Amorangi Hikuroa

E tupu ake au i Whangarei, Tetahi rohe o Ngati Wai. 

E Whangarei e noho ana 

Ko Ngapuhi, NgatiManiapoto, Ngati Toro, Tepopoto oku Iwi 

Ko Maunga Taniwha me Kakepuku oku Maunga 

Ko Waihou, Waipa me Waikato oku Awa 

Ko Ngatokimatawhaorua me Tainui oku Waka 

Ko Hutoia me Te Kopua oku Marae

Ko Amorangi Renata Hikuroa toku ingoa

Nga Kaihanga Uku/Maori clay workers collective.  In 2017 was the 30th birthday of our movement, clay is now and forever a media used by Maori.  How long does an art form have to be practiced before it is called a traditional practice. We have avenues where clay is now utilized within our culture, made relevant by our mentors and founders of Nga Kaihanga Uku. So I pay homage to them for giving Maori a pathway back to our ancestral links within the Pacific and reconnecting Maori back to the most ancient of human art forms. I am a practitioner of cultural expression making objects that are part of my story. What I create will be left as evidence that I was. I believe the work I do and the journey I’m on is now part of the story of clay.  I pay homage to my ancestors, the greatest of navigators, and the first clay workers of the pacific. They left a map, a guide for us to follow, so we will always know where we’re from, where we are and where we’re going. We are all clay, the body of the mother.