Shona Rapira-Davies

Shona Rapira-Davies is most well-known as a sculptor, and is responsible for making some of Aotearoa New Zealand's most significant sculptural works including Nga Morehu, held in the collection of Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand and Te Wai Mapihi Te Aro Park in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. She is also a painter, and there is an important relationship between these two aspects of her practice, evidenced particularly in her treatment of the human body.

Painted in 1986, this work was made while the artist was based in Te Tai Tokerau Northland. It speaks to methods used by the Crown and colonial forces to oppress and assimilate Māori. Rapira-Davies has painted over the breasts and genitals of the figures, referencing the way carvings were often censored by missionaries during the period of early settlement. The unusual shape of the frame of this work and others from the same period was defined by wood off-cuts available to Rapira-Davies at the time.