The Waka Transformation

E ai ki a Shane Cotton ko *The Waka Transformation*, 2001 he whakaatu anō i ngā ohonga ā-wairua, ā-ao tūroa a te Māori, i ara ai i te arotakenga o Ngāpuhi i te mōtītī ki te Karaitianatanga, me te āta tirotiro ki te tuakiri o te iwi. Kei te karanga atu ia ki te wairua o te tohunga nō Te Hokianga, a Papahurihia, rātou ko ōna kautautāwhi, he whakaatu i a rātou e haere ana mā runga waka i runga i te kānawehi whēuriuri. Nā tāna mātai i ngā wā o mua, mai i te tirohanga i te uri, kua hangaia e Cotton tētahi hītori o nāianei e tau ai ki ngā wā o mua, heoi he hāngaitanga ki te wā ināianei.

Shane Cotton describes *The Waka Transformation*, 2001 as restaging Māori spiritual and temporal awakenings which was created by reviewing Ngāpuhi acculturation into Christianity and examining tribal identity. He evokes the spirit of acclaimed Hokiangā tohunga (expert, healer) Papahurihia and his loyal followers, depicting them travelling in a waka (canoe) across a dark canvas. By examining moments in history from the perspective a descendant, Cotton creates a contemporary history that is fixed in the past, yet attached to the present.

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