Shane Cotton

Shane Cotton’s Te Awa Kairangi I and Te Awa Kairangi II (both 2025) mark the artist’s long-anticipated return to lithography, his first works in the medium since 2004. Together they form a powerful two-part reflection on place, ancestry, and the layered histories of the Hutt River. Each lithograph presents a central carved figure surrounded by Cotton’s distinctive blend of kōwhaiwhai-inspired patterning, symbolic iconography, and luminous colour fields, creating a dynamic interplay between tradition and reinvention. While Te Awa Kairangi I anchors the series with dense vegetal forms and a strong vertical presence, Te Awa Kairangi II expands the narrative through swirling spiritual motifs and heightened chromatic contrasts. Viewed together, the pair offers an insight into Cotton’s evolving visual language, uniting whakapapa, landscape, and contemporary mark-making in two meticulously crafted editions.