Artist Statement
Mahuika – Grandmother Fire. It is said that the soul is a fire, Fire is passion, fire is destruction and regeneration, she must be respected or she has the power to devour! But out of the ashes new life grows. Here Mahuika is depicted as the grandmother of Maui-Tikitiki-a-Taranga, he had once played his trickster ways with her and tricked her out of all of her fingernails, which she gave one at a time so that man mind could harness the power of fire.