Authors Nigel Borell and Coco Solid in talanoa.

Friday May 27, 6pm - 9pm

6pm Doors open

6.30pm Introductions - talanoa

8pm Q&A

8.30pm Break for meai

9pm Finish

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Samoa House Library invite you to join us at the Samoa House Fale Maota for the launch of two exciting new Penguin Random House publications - ‘How to Loiter in a Turf War’ by Coco Solid and ‘Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art’ by Nigel Borell. From 6.30pm, Author Coco Solid and Author Nigel Borell, will discuss the process’ pits and peaks of publishing their books.

Coco Solid/Jessica Hansell (Ngāpuhi/Samoa) is a writer, multimedia artist and musician from Auckland, long known by her rap nickname Coco Solid. She is the creator of cult Māori cartoon ‘Aroha Bridge’ with screenwriting credits ranging from comedy ‘Wellington Paranormal’ to indigenous soap ‘Ahikāroa’ and is a long-time member of Taika Waititi's Piki Films, producers of her forthcoming science-fiction series ‘Jupiter Park’.

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. 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 Arts Foundation NZ. Across all mediums she consistently strives to prioritise Oceaniac narratives, wahine, LGBTQIA expression and underground creatives of colour.

Nigel Borell (Pirirakau, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Te Whakatōhea) is an artist, curator and writer. As Curator, Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Nigel curated the ground-breaking 2020-21 exhibition 'Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Maori Art'. Key curatorial projects include 'Kura: Story of Māori Woman Artist', The Mangere Arts Centre Nga Tohu o Uenuku (2011), co-curating with Zara Stanhope 'Moa Hunter Fashions' by Areta Wilkinson, for 9th Asia Pacific Triennial, QAGOMA, Brisbane (2018) and 'The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand', to deYoung Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco (2017). Current projects include the curatorium to 'Histōrias Indīgenas- Indigenous Histories' at Museu de Art de (MASP), São Paulo, Brazil (2023) and the opening exhibition 'Puhi Ariki' for Wairau Māori Art Gallery, Hundertwasser Art Centre, Whangarei (2021). In 2021 Nigel was the inaugural recipient of The New Zealand Art Foundation’s A Moment In Time – He Momo awarded in recognition of curating 'Toi Tū Toi Ora'. In 2022 Borell was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori art. He holds a Master of Fine Arts (Hons) from Elam School of Fine Arts in 2002. Currently he is Curator Taonga Māori with the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira.

Samoa House Library will provide light kai, tea and coffee after the talanoa.

On ‘How to Loiter in a Turf War’ by Coco Solid

‘Like nothing you’ve read before, ‘How to Loiter in a Turf War’ is a lucid, genre-bending, cinematic work of fiction from one of Aotearoa’s most versatile artists. It’s a day in the life of three friends beefing with their own city, Tāmaki Makaurau. With gentrification closing in and racial tensions sweltering, the girls must cling to their friendship like a life raft, determined not to let their neighbourhood drift out to sea.

Fast, ferociously brilliant, crack-up funny and unforgettably true.’

“This book paints a picture of the Auckland I grew up in — when waiting for the 025 to town was a gamble, and the answer to the question ‘where are you from?’ was an essay, not a sentence. Like everything she makes, Coco Solid imbues this book with fierce intelligence, laser-sharp specificity and cosmic warmth.” — Rose Matafeo

“Sharp, funny and dope as hell, How to Loiter in a Turf War is another Coco Solid work of genius. With her piercing prose and expansive worlds, Coco has long been a life-raft for brown kids swimming against the whirlpools of urban realities, and this work is no different. Painfully perceptive, familiar and hopeful.” — Lana Lopesi

“This is one of the most exciting books I’ve ever read. A celebration and a challenge and an impressive work of art and intelligence.” — Pip Adam

On ‘Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art’ by Nigel Borell

‘Māori art is unique among all art movements, and to Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on centuries of indigenous knowledge and skill, it reflects a Māori world view, life in this land and the debates that continue to shape it.

Based on the ground-breaking 2020-21 exhibition staged by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, and edited by the show’s curator Nigel Borell, Toi Tū Toi Ora tells the story of contemporary Māori art from the 1950s to the present day, with more than 200 works by 110 Māori artists.

From carving to painting, video art to jewellery, body adornment to weaving, this is a powerful expression of the vast creativity and diversity within Māori art, linked across time and place through the Māori creation story and revealing profound connections to whakapapa, to whenua and to the spiritual world.

Every work is illustrated in full colour and described in illuminating captions that are bilingual in English and te reo Māori. A beautiful foreword by Moana Jackson and the author’s informative introduction share the history of contemporary Māori art within a kaupapa Māori worldview. These are supplemented by a comprehensive chronology of contemporary Māori art by the exhibition’s assistant curator Taarati Taiaroa, and detailed biographies for every artist, written by expert curators and art historians.

This is a major resource on toi Māori for anyone interested in the culture or history of Aotearoa New Zealand.’

“Kia maia! This is the art book Aotearoa has been waiting for! It resets the potential of all our dreams and creates a powerful poutama to the future.” – Witi Ihimaera

Suggested reading: 'How to Loiter in a Turf War' by Coco Solid

Suggested reading: ‘Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art’ by Nigel Borell

Author's Nigel Borell and Coco Solid in talanoa

Friday May27, 6pm - 9pm

283 Karangahape Rd,

Ground floor, Fale Maota