in profile: coco solid

Coco Solid, aka Jessica Lee Hansell, is a Māori/Samoan/German musician, artist and writer from Auckland. Hansell is one half of Parallel Dance Ensemble with Danish producerRobin Hannibal. She is also a founding member of New Zealand noize collective Badd Energy. As a comic book writer and zine-maker, Hansell was the creator of the comic Hook Ups, which was turned into the cult cartoon series in 2013, and produced This Is Not A Comic with Pritika Lal from 2005 – 2008 and is to release her first full graphic novel through Pikitia Press.

in profile: erin fae

Erin Fae is an artist and activist living in Auckland. She creates prints,
books, zines, mail art, sketches, and photographs for sale,
chance, and exhibition. Some of her projects have included:
Alphabet City, a community art space in Auckland devoted
to the printed and written word; The Press Cycle, a mobile
letterpress printing studio; and Mess of a Dreamer: A Taylor
Swift Fanzine. Erin has been involved with zines since the late
1990s and continues to self-publish. Erin also teaches print-,
zine- and book-related workshops.
www.erinfae.com

in profile: demarnia lloyd

When Demarnia lives in Christchurch, likes to paint, and do
some comics, and write songs and sing, and she makes various
objects. What she does with what she makes is often impelled
by the material she is working with. She is married, has a day job, and
appreciates all manner of things.

in profile: claire harris

Claire Harris is a Wellington-based artist working in narrative media, including video, installation and performance, approached from a background in photography and self-published indie comics. Claire has previously co-run the comics distribution for NZCC (New Zealand Comics Creators) and served on the Wellington Zinefest organising committee. She is currently part of the art band Fantasing.

in profile: beth sometimes

Beth is from Manawatu. She is committed to developing work that is accessible to audiences from varied experiences of art, using performance, drawing, sculpture, installation, sound and animation. Beth has an ongoing relationship as an artist and creative producer with Australian social change/arts company Big hART.

in profile: mary tamblyn

Mary Tamblyn lives in Christchurch. She collaborated with Alex McCrone to publish their first graphic novel, Nothing Fits, and is now collaborating with Bethany Hughston, a Sydney-based artist, on
a comic project called Rosetta Phone. Alongside that, she has
been working towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University
of Canterbury, majoring in sculpture.

in profile: mirranda burton

Mirranda Burton is an interdisciplinary artist, meandering between drawing,

printmaking, comix and animation. Her first graphic novel,

Hidden, was published to critical acclaim in 2011, and won

the Best Illustrated Book/Graphic Novel in the 2011 Aurealis

Awards, and a 2012 Gold Ledger Award. It was also published

in France.

in profile: alex mccrone

Alex McCrone has lived in Christchurch since 2004 but is originally from England where early exposure to The Beano and Steve Bell’s political strips fuelled her interest in comic art, developing into a particular love for European BD and full-colour artwork. She studied Printmaking at the Elam School of Fine Arts. Her first foray into the New Zealand comics scene was as the artist of Nothing Fits, a collaborative graphic novel written by Mary Tamblyn. She is currently working on a personal comic novella project entitled The Pearl, which may or may not ever see the light of day.

in profile: lucy meyle

Lucy Meyle is an artist and practice-led PhD student at AUT.

Often working collaboratively, her work includes publications and texts which are distributed for free,

either during exhibitions or outside galleries in other public spaces. Her research focuses on how social spaces can be created through work that ‘wiggles’ within/against dominant frameworks. You can find her work at: www.lucymeyle.com

in profile: lauren marriott

Lauren Marriott is from the East Coast of New Zealand and makes comics under the name of Ralphi.  Ralphi’s comics uncover a strong sense of narrative, drawn from events and observations
in both her own life and the lives of her numerous, unwitting
muses.

in profile: warsaw

Warsaw lives in Wellington, where she makes experimental films and music, and the occasional comic. She has self-published comics under various titles and contributed intermittently to Bristle. Recently, she completed a thesis at Victoria University on early amateur filmmaking in New Zealand. http://vimeo.com/user10277055.

in profile: debra boyask

Debra Boyask (11 April 1966 – 23 April 2013) was an integral part of the Christchurch comics scene in the 1990s, picking out the name Funtime Comics and designing the masthead. She submitted comics for the anthology under the pen name Pelms, including her ongoing tales of Spunky, Punky, and Monkey. She moved to Bristol, England, where she became very involved in the LGBT community, and continued to draw comics alongside other enthusiasts.