Shane Cotton

Shane Cotton completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury’s Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1988 and a Graduate Diploma in Teaching from the Christchurch College of Education in 1991. In 1993, Cotton joined Robert Jahnke in lecturing on Massey University’s Toioho ki Āpiti Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts programme.

His painting practice examines Māori and Pākehā cultural histories to prompt conversations about nationhood and biculturalism, often referencing early nineteenth-century Māori folk art and its intersection with Christianity.

In 1988, Cotton was the Frances Hodgkins Fellow at the University of Otago; in 1999 he was awarded a Te Tohu Mahi Hou a Te Waka Toi/Te Waka Toi Award for New Work; and he became an Arts Foundation Laureate in 2008.