Hotere Garden Oputae: They do cut down the poles that hold up the sky (1989)

They do cut down the poles that hold up the sky

Hotere Garden Oputae, Constitution Street, Port Chalmers

Shona Rapira Davies

SHONA RAPIRA DAVIES, who is of Ngati Wai descent, often references Maori mythology in her work and this piece (left) is no exception. In They do cut down the poles that hold up the sky (1989), she depicts a male figure standing on his head, with his legs pushed up into the sky, evoking the Maori creation myth in which Ranginui and Papatuanuku are pushed apart by their son Tane, god of the forest.

The title, with its use of the pronoun "they", makes comment on the ecological crimes of Pakeha settlers, who decimated forests in their seemingly endless quest for arable land.
 
Text copyright Jo Campbell

 

 

From the plaque-

 

Shona Rapira Davies (b. 1951) Ngati Wai

THEY CUT DOWN THE POLES THAT HOLD UP THE SKY

1989

Hotere Foundation Trust.