Shona Rapira Davies

Shona Rapira Davies (born 1951) is a New Zealand sculptor and painter of Ngātiwai ki Aotea tribal descent currently residing in Wellington, New Zealand.

Education

Rapira Davies first studied at the Auckland College of Education, majoring in art, and later at the Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, graduating with a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1983. In 1989, she was awarded the prestigious Frances Hodgkins Fellowship and a residency for indigenous artists at the Banff Centre of the Arts in Canada.

Rapira Davies recalls she felt isolated in her identity while studying in Dunedin but the experience taught her the value of patience.

Career

She exhibits widely; both as a sculptor and as a painter. Rapira Davies is interested in the empowerment of Māori women in spite of perceived racism (in a Pākehā culture) and sexism (within the patriarchal structure of Māori tribal organisation). She uses her art work to make statements about perceived injustices against Māori.

She is well known for her landscape sculpture commission for Te Aro Park (previously called Pigeon Park) in central Wellington. The ceramic tile permanent work is considered one of New Zealand's most successful public sculptures. Set in a narrow triangle of public space with adjacent busy roads and much foot traffic it is a very visible work.

One of Rapira Davies' major works, the sculptural installation Nga Morehu (1988), the title of which translates to 'the survivors', is held by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, The work was originally made for Whakamamae ('to feel pain'), an exhibition Rapira Davies had with painter Robyn Kahukiwa at the Wellington City Art Gallery in 1988. Ngā Morehu pays tribute to the strength and resilience of Māori women. A naked female child faces a group of women advancing towards her, performing the , and at the end of the mat is a seated (female elder).

Exhibitions

Solo Source: Hone Heke, Art Attack Gallery, Dunedin. 1981 Toku Whanau, Marshall Seifert Gallery, Dunedin. 1984 Tangi, Marshall Seifert Gallery, Dunedin. 1985 Wāhine, Wāhine, Marshall Seifert Gallery. 1985 Kōrero au Taku Tamaiti, Bowen Galleries. 1986 Ko Te Kihikihi, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre. 2022 Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre. 2022 Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa, Christchurch Art Gallery. 2025

Selected group exhibitions

Māori Arts Festival, Women's Gallery, (also Hocken Library Gallery, Dunedin) Wellington. 1980

Collections

Her works are held at Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery.