Indira Neville (born 1973) is a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
comics artist, community organiser, musician and educationalist. She is notable for her work in the
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
-based comics collective Oats Comics, her own long running serial comic ''Nice Gravy'' and in recent times taking a prominent role in the promotion and recognition of New Zealand women's comics through her association with the ''Three Words'' anthology.
Indira Neville is also notable for her work as an educationalist. She was a CORE Education eFellow,
a winner of a Microsoft Innovative Teacher Award for her teaching, and a former principal of a primary school. She is also an active performer, and is currently fronting the Auckland band The Biscuits.
Biography
Neville began her career working in television production after graduating from
Auckland University of Technology
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...
in 1993. After gaining a graduate diploma in teaching in 1997, Neville worked in the field of primary education. She became recognised for her educational work in ICT and eLearning, and was principal of Mulberry Grove School, on
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island ( mi, Aotea) lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest island of New Zealand and fourth-largest in the main chain. Its highest point, Mount Hobson ...
, New Zealand. She currently works for the
National Library of New Zealand
The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...
as a principal adviser.
She has appeared in numerous New Zealand and Australian exhibitions and anthologies, including Oats, Dad and Tracy, My Soiled Sample, Pictozine, Tiny Peeks, Blood and Thunder, My Life as a Mega-rich Bombshell, and Loser Gurrl. Her work has also appeared in the mainstream magazines
f*INK
''f*INK Weekly Entertainment Guide '' was a free weekly guide owned by Martin Kean and Caroline McCaw. It was published each Wednesday from February to December, from 1996-2009 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The aim of the guide was to provide free i ...
,
Pavement, Loose, and Werewolf, and she is a regular contributor to the published Melbourne comics periodical Dailies.
Oats Collective
Oats Comics was established in 1993 in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Neville began drawing mini comics, both solo and in collaboration with fellow Oats creators
Clayton Noone and Stefan Neville, her brother. She contributed to Oats collective publications, including ''Dad and Tracy''
and ''The Hood'',
as well as their exhibitions. In 2005 they held an exhibition entitled ''A Fist or a Club or Something'' at Special Gallery, in Customs St. East,
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, and here she launched her solo comic book ''I am a Comic''.
She started her most notable solo comic ''Nice Gravy'' while a member of Oats Comics collective.
Nice Gravy
From 1994 Neville wrote and drew the serial comic ''Nice Gravy'' which ran for fifteen issues. It is acknowledged by
Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand as one of a growing number of New Zealand women's comics produced in the 1990s and 2000s.
Copies of her comics are held in important library collections around the world, including
Duke University's Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture Zine Collections
and
Alexander Turnbull Library
The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...
.
Three Words
In mid-2014 Indira Neville joined up with New Zealand graphic novelists, writers and fellow comics artists
Rachel Fenton and
Sarah Laing
Sarah Laing (born 1973) is a New Zealand author, graphic novelist and graphic designer.
Background
Laing was born in 1973 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, United States and grew up in Palmerston North, New Zealand. As a teenager she moved to W ...
. They set about to develop the first anthology of New Zealand women's comics in a book format.
The anthology "...will incorporate both existing and new work. We want to make visible the depth and breadth of New Zealand women’s comics; showing off some of the beautiful, amazing and often-unseen women’s comics of the past, as well as providing an opportunity for collaboration and the creation of new book-specific pieces via the Three words concept".
The book is still in development phase, but has now attracted funding from the New Zealand public arts funder
Creative New Zealand
The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...
.
The Three Words project has also proved to be a catalyst for promoting the work of New Zealand women comics artists and writers through their blog
and Facebook group.
The project has resulted in some controversy, as it has highlighted the marginalisation of women in New Zealand comics (as discussed on
National Radio by Adrian Kinnaird, editor of ''From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics''
). Square Planet Comics publisher Tara Black argues for the importance of the ''Three Words'' project because it will help to address "the invisibility of the work of women in the creative sphere" by existing "...forever as documented evidence of women producing comics".
Career in education
Neville has had an extensive career in education. Gaining a teaching diploma in 1997, in 1999 she was an ICT specialist teacher in
Glen Eden Intermediate School, Auckland. She was later principal of Mulberry Grove School on isolated Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, a primary school with a strong focus on ICT and initiator of the Great Barrier Island ICT professional development cluster. Neville was actively involved in this cluster, whose aims are to connect the educational organizations on the island, "...developing a shared vision that runs through early childhood, primary and secondary schooling, and working cooperatively to achieve it".
During her time as a principal she produced the blog ''100 School Demons: All the Things that Fascinate and Vex the Principal''.
On this blog Neville adapts an ancient Japanese drawing exercise in which an artist attempts to illustrate 100 demons. She posted cartoons used in the Mulberry Grove School newsletter that depict strange beasts inspired by the things she found vexing and fascinating in her job as principal. This included ''Nits'' as Demon #4, ''Forgetting my Lunch'' as Demon #11 and ''Parents who yell at me'' as Demon #19.
Neville has also been influential outside of school. In 2005 she was an eFellow on the CORE Education eFellowship scheme, and awarded contestable funding to carry out research as part of The New Zealand Ministry of Education e-Learning Strategy. She published a report of her project entitled ''What impact can the use of high-end software have on the creativity of gifted under-achievers?''.
That same year she was awarded a Microsoft Innovative Teacher Award. From this work she was invited to deliver a CORE Education EDtalk in 2009 called ''Key competencies as edupunk''.
This talk considers the possibilities for developing a local school curriculum and the introduction of the key competencies within the New Zealand Curriculum. EDtalks are advertised as "Interviews, discussions, and presentations from thought leaders, innovative educators, and inspirational learners". She has also published educational resources for teachers on topics such as ''ICT and the Visual Arts in the Classroom'' (2004), ''An introduction to multimedia in the classroom'' (2004) and ''Flax : a cross-curricula integrated theme = Harakeke'' (2003).
Music
Neville has been involved in performing music alongside her comics and education activities. She currently plays guitar and does vocals for The Biscuits,
and has played a number of gigs including several at the Audio Foundation.
The Biscuits have a similar aesthetic to Neville's comics and they write songs about nobody wanting to go swimming and monsters lurking.
She was also a member of Thee Ideal Gus, which held
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
and
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
in equal high regard.
References
External links
Auckland Libraries podcast interviewIndira Neville's Blog 100 School DemonsIndira Neville's EDTalkon key competencies in the national curriculum
Indira Nevilleon the archive of the Kiwi Comics wiki
The album Secret Crisisby The Biscuits
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Indira
1973 births
Living people
New Zealand comics artists
New Zealand comics writers
New Zealand schoolteachers
New Zealand women artists
New Zealand female comics artists
Female comics writers