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. They Do Cut Down the Poles That Hold Up the Sky is related to the ceramic sculpture of the same name installed at Hotere Garden Oputae in Ōtepoti Dunedin. It references the pūrākau of Tāne Mahuta and the separation of Rangi and Papa and was made in response to a request from Rapira Davies' son to make something for him, after making the majority of her work for and about wāhine.

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.

pūrākau ancestral story wāhine women