Hastings councillor Steve Gibson said seeing the New Zealand flag on the floor of the gallery with a sign inviting people to walk on it was a real shock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat flag has been carried by New Zealanders in every major conflict and it holds deep meaning for many of us,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy own feelings come from experience. A friend of mine died while serving in East Timor. I also lost a work colleague who died on duty while we were doing our best to keep our community safe as a police officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy great uncle was killed on the Somme in World War I. When I see our flag, I think of them and the service and sacrifice it represents. That is why treating it in this way feels so wrong.<\/p>\n
Hastings Art Gallery is defending its decision to exhibit M\u0101ori artist Diane Prince\u2019s installation Flagging the Future despite it being pulled from a Nelson art gallery earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not about shutting down art. It is about showing respect for something that carries real emotional weight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exhibition curator Gina Matchitt said, on behalf of Prince, the reaction to the installation was like taking \u201ca litmus test of the country\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of it is to unpack dialogue and talk about what the flag means to you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat often depends on your experience and upbringing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo many M\u0101ori, the flag has a different meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Prince was asking people to walk on it as a form of protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don\u2019t have to. It\u2019s a personal choice,\u201d Matchitt said.<\/p>\n
She said Prince was a senior M\u0101ori artist whose works were a significant part of New Zealand\u2019s art history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exhibition brings together a wide range of her works. Flagging the Future was first presented at the Auckland Art Gallery more than 30 years ago and represents a moment in time when her work prompted deep discussions around New Zealand\u2019s national identity,\u201d Matchitt said.<\/p>\n
Gibson said he had raised his concerns within Hastings council because he didn\u2019t want council staff facing the same sort of backlash as the staff at the Nelson gallery experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be mindful of how these choices affect our people and our community. Especially as our art gallery is right next to the war memorial,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n
One art gallery visitor contacted Hawke\u2019s Bay Today earlier this week to tell a reporter she had \u201cburst into tears\u201d when she saw the exhibition.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes a mockery of his memory. He was proud of what he did for all Kiwis in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hastings Art Gallery director Sophie Davis said contemporary art could be confronting, especially when it addressed complex histories of nationhood and experiences of conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs [is] to be expected, there has been a range of responses and feedback, both positive and negative.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany describe the exhibition as powerful and thought-provoking, with some reflecting on how the work made them reconsider their relationship to the flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cOthers have highlighted the mana of the exhibition, and many people have said the exhibition challenged them but offered new insight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis said the gallery selected the exhibition based on its cultural significance.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a public gallery, our role is to present significant artworks, including those that may be challenging or spark debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic galleries provide safe spaces for learning, reflection and community conversation. Our role is not to take sides, but to offer context so people can engage and form their own views,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The exhibition opened at Hastings Art Gallery on November 1 and runs until January 31.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hastings councillor Steve Gibson said seeing the New Zealand flag on the floor of the gallery with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23748,10039,38290,127,107185,4296,35964,18940,35838,1229,5194,107184,14909,111,43,139,69,90,1523,384,100703,2687,72231,1361,34890,67016,102,25152,80],"class_list":["post-163434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-backing","tag-controversial","tag-councillor","tag-despite","tag-encourages","tag-exhibition","tag-feels","tag-flag","tag-floor","tag-gallery","tag-hastings","tag-heretaunga","tag-me","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-over","tag-people","tag-please","tag-saying","tag-shocks","tag-that","tag-walk","tag-whare","tag-with","tag-wrong","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}