Joan Gragg

Joan Elisabeth Gragg (also Joan Rolls-Gragg, Joan Rolls Gragg; born 1943) is a senior artist and educator from the Cook Islands, with painting career spanning five decades. She founded the Cook Islands' first and only premier art gallery, Beachcomber Contemporary Art (now Bergman Gallery), in 1991. Gragg graduated with a Master of Art and Design degree from Auckland University of Technology in 2010.

Gragg's practice centres on the changes to everyday life in the Cook Islands, exploring changes over the decades, with people drifting further apart with the introduction of new technology such as new forms of transportation as opposed to walking, and single plastic chairs instead of traditional wooden benches. Gragg also stated she enjoys painting the beauty of everyday life in the Cook Islands. In 2024, Gragg was featured in Aotearoa Art Fair.

In February 2025, a book on Marjorie Crocombe was published, Gragg and Tricia Thompson both noted Marjorie’s significant contributions to Cook Islands Māori language's preservation and education. The book was decorated with paintings by Gragg and Mahiriki Tangaroa.

In July 2025, there was an exhibition titled To Tātou Mārāmā, Our Light, celebrating the Cook Islands’ 60 years of self-governance, featuring four senior Cook Islands women Mahiriki Tangaroa, Sylvia Marsters, Kay George and Joan Gragg. The exhibition was opened by Catherine Graham, New Zealand High Commission to the Cook Islands. Gragg's work was a response to her childhood in Australia when she first heard about the announcement of Cook Island's self-governance.

Gragg has been exhibited extensively in the Cook Islands, as well as in New Zealand. Her work is held in numerous private and major public collections throughout the Cook Islands as well as New Zealand. Such as Cook Islands National Museum, and the Belinda Fletcher Collection.

Selected solo exhibitions 2023: The Nuku, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands 2021: Underneath the Mango Tree, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands 2011: Patia Te Pere, BCA Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands 2010: Seeing the Funny Side, Cook Islands National Museum, Rarotonga, Cook Islands 2024: Autumn Selection, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand 2023: Ta Mataora, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands 2023: Horizon, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand 2020: Tatou 2, The Story of Us, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands 2002: Aue Te Mataora, BCA Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands