PRIDE Lecture with Coco Solid

2—3pm

event Details

The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Senior Artist Lecture is an important aspect of the Auckland Pride Te Tīmatanga programme. It allows a tuākana artist to reflect on their experience and practice from Māori and Queer perspectives, and represents a rare opportunity in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Jessica Hansell (Ngāpuhi, Sāmoa) is a writer, multimedia artist and musician from Tāmaki Makaurau. Also known by her rap name Coco Solid, she is the Senior Artist for the 2026 Auckland Pride Festival’s Te Tīmatanga residency.

Join us as Ane Tonga, Curator, Pacific Art, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki introduces Coco Solid alongside Te Kura Raumata alumni Allie Howell (Waitaha, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Pākehā), Asher McCarten (Ngāpuhi), Latamai Katoa (Ha‘asini, Tonga, Māori), Pounamu Rurawhe (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa), Pūmanawa Rawiri (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Whanaunga, Marutuāhū, Ngāti Tamaoho, Ngāti Koheriki, Ngāti Aamaru, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) and they share insights into the development of their new video work. Framed through Te Tīmatanga, this conversation traces Coco Solid’s enduring inter-arts practice and grassroots activism, and considers how collective practice, mentorship and shared responsibility shape artistic and political futures.

This event is part of the 2026 Auckland Pride Festival. Click on the Rainbow tag to see all the Gallery’s Pride events or check out the full Auckland Pride Festival programme at aucklandpride.org.nz .  

Date
Location
Auditorium
Cost
Free
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Coco Solid (Ngāpuhi, Sāmoa) Te Timatanga Tuakana 

Jessica Hansell is a writer, multimedia artist and musician from Tāmaki Makaurau, long known by her rap moniker Coco Solid. She is the creator of Māori cartoon Aroha Bridge with screenwriting credits ranging from the comedy Wellington Paranormal to Indigenous soap Ahikāroa. As Coco Solid, Parallel Dance Ensemble, Badd Energy and Fanau Spa, she has gained a loyal international music following and now heads artist-led record label and production house Kuini Qontrol, which also makes independent film, audio and animation projects. She is co-director of the Onehunga community space Wheke Fortress and musician collective Coconutclouds Studio. Hansell was named the Fulbright Creative New Zealand Pacific writer in residence in 2018, studying at the University of Hawai‘i, where she started writing How to Loiter in a Turf War while researching gentrification in the Pacific. The following year Coco was named a national Arts Laureate by the New Zealand Arts Foundation.