Shona Rapira Davies: Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa

A new installation by leading Māori sculptor and senior artist Shona Rapira Davies (Ngāti Wai ki Aotea, Aotearoa, New Zealand) is the first in an ongoing program of large-scale commissions to be initiated by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre.

This program is an exceptional opportunity for artists, supporting the creation of significant new installations made for the Len Lye Centre’s cathedral-like entry ramp.

Shona Rapira Davies’ innovative and wide-ranging art practice crosses drawing, painting, textile works, sculpture and installation. Her outdoor public works include Te Waimapihi in central Wellington, which with the support of Te Atiawa, reclaimed part of Te Aro Pa.

Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa, 2022, is about sacrifice. It is the artist’s response to the ongoing processes of colonisation and industrialisation in Taranaki where the Govett-Brewster is located and was created in memory of the children and story of Parikaha—the papakainga or Māori village founded in the 1860s during the Taranaki Land Wars, built on a prophecy of peace. This story is interwoven with narratives drawn from her own tribal area: the Northern story about the whale and the kauri tree—brothers—with the whale giving up his life for the kauri.

“Being able to work with curator Megan Tamati-Quennell and a key team has enabled Shona to turn ideas formed over several decades into reality,” says Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre director Dr Zara Stanhope.

“Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa melds Shona’s felt response to the colonial past, which remains omnipresent both locally and globally, with the disturbance to the historic migratory patterns of whales off the Taranaki coastline and the sacrifice of the whale—the largest creature in the ocean—for his brother the kauri—the largest tree in the forest.”

“This is a significant and important work, which has garnered strong support from the community, including New Plymouth District Council, the Govett-Brewster Foundation and its members, Pollen Foundation, and Bowen Galleries, Te Whanganui-a-Tara,” Zara says.

The work is on exhibit in the Len Lye Centre until February 2024.