SHONA RAPIRA-DAVIES

Early Years and Background

Rapira-Davies was born on Aotea (Great Barrier Island) and is of Ngāti Wai descent. She studied art at the Auckland College of Education before completing a Diploma in Fine Arts at Otago Polytechnic in 1983. Her early artistic formation coincided with the political awakening of indigenous rights in Aotearoa, anchoring her art in cultural reclamation and activism. In 1989, she received the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship and completed a residency at Banff Centre of the Arts, Canada, deepening her cross-cultural and feminist focus. She currently lives and works in Wellington, Aotearoa.

Shona Rapira-Davies Artworks

Working across sculpture, ceramics, and painting, Rapira-Davies weaves Māori cosmology with feminist and political narratives. Her works revisit memory, loss, and identity, often inscribed with language and symbol as acts of cultural remembrance.

Ngā Morehu

Her seminal installation Ngā Morehu (The Survivors) (1988) remains a cornerstone of New Zealand contemporary art. Comprised of 36 terracotta figures arranged on a woven mat, the piece honours Māori women and the sustaining power of the karanga (ceremonial call). Created with assistance from her daughter for the exhibition Whakamamae at City Gallery Wellington, the work now resides in the national collection at Te Papa Tongarewa. Ngā Morehu continues to serve as a profound statement on survival, aroha, and identity.

Te Waimapihi (Te Aro Park)

Between 1988 and 1992, Rapira-Davies transformed Te Aro Park in Wellington into Te Waimapihi, an expansive public artwork of 30,000 hand-crafted tiles. The project memorialises Te Ātiawa pā and honours the restoration of mana whenua within urban space.

Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa

Rapira-Davies recent body of work, Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa (The Cicada Tree), presented at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Christchurch Art Gallery, reflects cycles of transformation through sound and nature—continuing her lifelong meditation on whakapapa and renewal.

Honours and Awards

• 2025 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate – Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Award
• Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, University of Otago (1989)
• Banff Centre for the Arts Residency, Canada (1989)

Select Shona Rapira-Davies Exhibitions

• Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (2025)
• Critical Mass (with Diane Prince), Bowen Galleries, Wellington (2023)
• The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Bowen Galleries, Wellington (2018)

Select Group Exhibitions

• Toi Te Toi Ora, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2021)
• Oceania: Imagining the Pacific, City Gallery Wellington (2012)
• Headlands: Thinking Through New Zealand Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney (1992)
• Whakamamae, City Gallery Wellington (1988)

Shona Rapira-Davies FAQs

Ocula | 2025