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Photo of tiled curved wall.
Birds eye view of public park.
Photo of shallow water feature in public park.

Rapira-Davies Art Practise

Working in art is about using material that I have just discovered for myself, materials that I am only just in control of. The rush of excitement is in the handling of these new materials without having previous background knowledge and there is a continuing rush of anxiety and fear of inevitable failure- so that when I sometimes succeed there is an adrenalin rush that is powerful and satisfying- for just a little while.
 
I don’t think that what I do is all successful- rather there are parts that are- sometimes.
 
I don’t like repetition activity, like decoding a secret formula once that formula is known and it is successful, I become bored with further development. It is with relief I move onto other art makings. Like being in a sandpit- the castle has my absolute attention- until it is time to bust it down and move on. There are ideas that I have that I have endlessly argued, ideas that have coalesced themselves into visual problems that I have to solve.
 
For years the ideas stay in my head, feeding on new technologies and materials or withering for want of visual context. I have never needed to rush the transition of these ideas, so my work output is both slow and there’s not much of it. There is also the other thing- money, making art is really expensive, some of the best ideas require a lot of money. It isn’t even about husbanding resources, since a lot of the time I work on the principle of the learning curve and there could be a lot of wastage involved.
 
If risk is somehow involved with the art making process there is a gamble in the outcome. 

Rapira-Davies, S (Native Birds Productions). (2003). Native Bird Productions, Shona Rapira-Davies, Diane Prince [Exhibition catalogue]. Whangarei, New Zealand: Self-published. 

(Clockwise top right to bottom) Rapira-Davies, S. (1992). Te Wai Mapihi | Te Aro Park (Te Aro, Wellington, NZ). Painter: Kura Te Waru Rewiri Image credit: Stephen A’Court.

Te Wai Mapihi | Te Aro Park

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Shona Rapira-Davies is one of Aotearoa’s most influential contemporary Māori artists. Born in Aotearoa New Zealand, she trained at Elam School of Fine Arts and has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work often weaves together personal history, tribal identity, and collective narratives of Māori women. She creates powerful sculptural forms using terracotta, wood, paint, and found materials.