in profile: rachel benefield

As a child, Rachel struggled to read and write. Dad noticed her poring over Footrot Flats, trying to decipher words, and started slipping the series under her adolescent door. A love affair with comics was born. By nine she realised she had an ace up her sleeve with drawing. Now she works in Porirua East as an art teacher, running mural painting projects at primary schools, and as an artist and illustrator. Her latest project is a graphic novel called Storm in a Tea Cup.

in profile: raewyn alexander

Raewyn Alexander lives in Auckland and teaches Narrative Writing at UNITEC. She received a Miles Hughes Achievement Award in 2014. Her poetic journeys and trees for travel blog can be read here:
http://poeticjourneytoamerica.blogspot.co.nz/

in profile: rebecca hawkes

Rebecca became interested in making narrative comics after her first forays into illustrative zinemaking this year. She grew up in Canterbury and

now studies, writes and paints in Wellington. She has a degree in Media Studies.

facebook.com/rebeccahawkesart.

in profile: alie mcpherson

1. Lives in Avondale. 2. Writes lists. 3. Loves New Zealand social history and improves her posture by endlessly trawling the internet doing her genealogy. 4. Grew up in Timaru. 5. Is always kind to her children, never yells, is always kind, everyday. 6. Amuses herself by cutting up old books and making new illustrations. 7. Loves remembering, searching, and finding illustrations from her childhood. 8. Can’t tell the difference between the words sweet and sweat and if it’s seed or sead, need or nead and feed or fead. 9. Neads help editing lists.

in profile: caroline anderson

Caroline Anderson, aka Crystal Diamond, is an existential rogue

scholar who subscribes to her own founded philosophy, The

Party Within (a smart casual connecting principle). Currently

writing a book of the same name, Caroline perpetually unpacks

snack-sized renditions of her explosive psychic experiences

in a roundabout oblique fashion that draws newcomers into

the story as it is penned. Her dedication to party artistry

reflects a dedication to continued improvement of the overall

vibe of Earth. Resourcefully revelling in simple tasks while

deeply investing in human relationships is her signature

move. She is doing this by way of an epistolary Peace Party

Puzzle, distributing original handwritten writings (riddled with

drawings) to selected parties by post, planting psychic seeds

and crystallising invisible connections between disparate

parties, an instinctive method that reveals its importance layer

by layer as time rolls around on itself. Caroline happened into

the art world when suddenly she had a lot to say, and needed a

forgiving word to shelter under. Art is her new umbrella.

in profile: bek coogan

Bek Coogan was born in Palmerston North. She is a multidisciplinary artist. Her first exhibition of drawings in 2002 birthed an ongoing practise based on a crossover between Colin McCahon and DIY feminist punk, based around a character called Sheville, positing an alternative female and mythic utopia. Bek’s latest art band collaboration is called Fantasing. She also performs solo under the name Oona Verse and Sheville, and past bands are Cortina and Full Fucking Moon.  

in profile: pritika lal

Pritika Lal islives in Auckland. An interdisciplinary artist, her creative practice

spans a range of mediums, including comics, video, interactive

digital gadgets and sometimes clay. She works as a lecturer.