Jess Nicholson: Ka maumahara te uku (the clay remembers)
Clay remembers being pounded flat or rolled into a ball, in the same way that it remembers being the basalt rocks of a mighty mauka or the silt swept along the bottom of a braided awa.
detail of artwork – part of ‘Ka maumahara te uku’
11.04.26
17.05.26
In this solo exhibition, Nicholson continues to explore recycled, reclaimed and collected whenua materials.
Through laborious and intimate ceramic processes to create the work they pay particular attention to the non-linear transformation of the materials – considering this as a metaphor for the process of reconnecting, belonging, and feeling at home in one’s body and land.
They investigate this tension and discomfort through the old pottery adage ‘clay remembers’. This saying, usually used in a technical context, also speaks to the te ao Māori belief that we are born from, belong, and ultimately will return to the land.
The Artist
Ko Maukatere te mauka
Ko Rakahuri te awa
Ko Te Uruao te waka
Ko Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe me Kāi Tahu kā iwi
Ko Kāi Tūāhuriri, Kāi Te Atawhiua, Kāi Aotaumarewa me Kāti Wairua kā hapu
Ko Tuahiwi te Marae
Ko Jess Nicholson te ikoa
Jess Nicholson is a ceramic artist from Ōhope, now based in Ōtepoti, with a practice grounded in Kāitahutaka and environmental sustainability. They explore the transitional and non-linear nature of re/connecting to whakapapa and whenua by transforming local, collected, and reclaimed materials (uku, pōhatu, oneone, and ash) into ceramic forms that act as a metaphor for the self – to make real and permanent the emotional and cultural connections they feel to te taiao. Nicholson rejects capitalist notions of ceramic production, instead prioritising labour-intensive and intimate processes that explore belonging, domesticity, and acceptance.
In 2025 they exhibited with Paemanu: Ngai Tahu Contemporary Visual Art Collective at the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial at Queensland Art Gallery /Gallery of Modern Art in Meanjin/Brisbane, they were awarded the Caselberg Creative Connections Residency, exhibited Re: Wild / Mohoao / Gwyllt in Pōneke with Llyr Williams, received second place at the ILT Arts Murihiku awards and received a Merit prize at The Portage ceramic awards.