Foundation Members contribute to major new installation

Tue 16 Aug 2022
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre Director Zara Stanhope delivers opening speeches. Image: Hayley Bethell.
Govett-Brewster Foundation Members, with the Pollen Foundation and Bowen Galleries have enabled senior artist Shona Rapira Davies to achieve one of her most significant works to date.

Ko Te Kihikihi Taku Ingoa, 2022, is a significant new work commissioned for the ‘cathedral-like’ Len Lye Centre’s opening Ramp space and is a response by the artist to the distinct histories of Taranaki.

Comprising pohutukawa, stainless steel, wire, high tensile wire, steel pipe, harakeke and graphite, the work depicts an impressive whale tail, pohutukawa, high tensile wire rocks representative of volcanic pumice and the new growth of a kauri tree rendered in stainless steel.

Curated by Megan Tamati-Quennell, the work directly references a Northern Iwi narrative where the whale gives up his life, body and skin for his brother the Kauri tree. This metaphor is interwoven with iwi histories particular to Taranaki, which span the New Zealand land wars which began in Waitara in March 1860, and subsequent decades of armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty between iwi and the New Zealand Government.

The sculpture was launched with a blessing ahead of the Govett-Brewster Foundation’s annual Gala dinner, and was made possible by the generous support of the Govett-Brewster Foundation and its Members, the Pollen Foundation, and Bowen Galleries.

“Shona has invested more than 12 months of experimentation and labour to create this work, and its realisation owes much to the team who supported both Shona and the Gallery to realise the artist’s vision, and to the many partners and contributors who made it possible,” says Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre Director Dr Zara Stanhope.

“The work’s connection between historic migratory patterns of whales off the Taranaki coastline, the sacrifice made by the whale – the largest creature in the ocean - for his brother the kauri – the largest tree in the forest, and the impact on Māori of colonial land confiscation are all pertinent to the Gallery and our location. This work draws each narrative strongly together,” Zara says.

Shona has invested more than 12 months of experimentation and labour to create this work, and its realisation owes much to the team who supported both Shona and the Gallery to realise the artist’s vision, and to the many partners and contributors who made it possible,” says Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre Director Dr Zara Stanhope.

The Gallery wishes to acknowledge the Pollen Foundation, Bowen Galleries, and contributing Govett-Brewster Foundation Members:


- Nerissa Barber and David Morris
- Bryce and Delwyn Barnett
- Adnan and Elle Belushi
- Vanessa Bruton
- Shelley Carrington
- Chartwell Trust
- Brad and Rachel Dannefaerd
- Marilyn Davies
- Janine Evans
- Michael Fancourt and Elizabeth Wright
- Lynne Harrison
- Phil and Robyn Hinton
- Moira Irving and David George
- Steivan Juvalta
- Paul and Gillian Kendrick
- Grant Kerr and Maggie Barry
- John and Patty Kilpatrick
- Johnathan and Lisajane Koea
- John Leuthart and Terry Parkes
- Bernard Leuthart and Kat McDonnell
- Casey and Richard Martin
- Dianne Mason and Alec Butler
- John and Lynda Matthews
- Margaret Milne
- Darrin and Anna Muggeridge
- Andrew Patterson
- Rachel and Michael Perrett
- Michael Radich
- Jonathan Rutherfurd-Best
- Kinsley Sampson
- Dion Tuuta and Rose Waetford
- Therese Waghorn
- Paul Evans / Webbs
- Gavin White and Chris Doyle