Pride, prestige, and ancestral power wrap around every young woman donning the Māori kākahu, a garment worn over the shoulders and enveloping the body. Once used by tribal elders, chiefs and other notables, today these kākahu are reserved for special ceremonial occasions. The US-based artistic duo called Aho Amerika — two Māori women named Karley Brown and Kapotahi Tuahine-Frederikson — create contemporary sacred cloaks with a mix of natural fibers and pigments. Today’s Kākahu are decorative textiles, art pieces that honor a tradition Ako Amerika hopes will live long. Both Māori artists have strong tribal roots. Brown is Nga Puhi from the Hokianga area of northern New Zealand; Tuahine-Frederikson descends from the Ngati Kahungunu and Tuhoe tribes. Māori culture created the outerwear when its people migrated from Polynesia to New Zealand 1000 years ago. Arriving as skilled flax weavers, they were already expert fishnets and basket weavers; soon they were weaving cloaks as New Zealand’s cooler climes required more body coverage. Working by hand between two upright weaving pegs, the artist adds decorative threads, feathers, and natural dyes. Aho Amerika starts the base of each cloak finger twining cotton threads together, a technique passed down through generations. The team twist every stitch onto a textile, one by one, and then add thick masses of feathers to transform the cloaks from handmade garments into transcendent works of art where stacks of color and volume command the eye. Iconography is integral to each piece. Small repeated triangles represent the “monster’s teeth” that protect, lead, or indicate lineage. A diamond pattern called Patiki, means the flounder fish, a sign of abundance and well fed people. Mastering this art, says Brown, is a fusion of the physical, the intellectual and the spiritual. “Weaving is, more often than not, a journey of self-discovery—spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. We can use our cultural gift to help bring people together and uphold the integrity of our craft.”