• Georgia is an Aotearoa New Zealand ceramic artist with Māori and British heritage
• She finds clay a grounding medium, allowing her to connect to the earth
• Her ceramic vessels become a reclamation, giving Māori ideas a pedestal

Georgia Tikaputini Douglas Hood draws on her Māori and British background to craft European ceramic vessels, which she fills with Māori storytelling. "The forms I create carry the weight of an empire," she says. "The whakapapa genealogy associated with clay is central to my practice." Exploring and experimenting, Georgia follows an intuitive process. She begins by coiling the clay, building it upwards to form a shape. Using a slab technique, she then creates the base and handles, connecting them to the main body of the piece before carving designs onto its surface. The works first undergo a bisque firing in the kiln. They are then glazed with an iron oxide-rich shino glaze before being returned for their final firing. Inspired by the Māori clay collective, Ngā Kaihanga Uku, Georgia hopes she can share knowledge about Māori culture through her practice.