A council spokesperson said there were cameras in the gallery and that matters around identifying the person involved in the theft were being managed by the police.<\/p>\n
Earlier that day, Havelock North resident Mike Doyle was banned from the gallery for two years for kicking a wooden block, part of the installation.<\/p>\n
Doyle said he wasn\u2019t behind the theft.<\/p>\n
\u014ctaki-based M\u0101ori artist Diane Prince\u2019s installation was also hastily removed from the Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakat\u016b in Nelson earlier this year for what the gallery described as staff safety reasons following abuse and complaints.<\/p>\n
Mike Doyle has been banned from Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery for two years after kicking a part of the controversial Flagging the Future installation.<\/p>\n
The controversial installation included a New Zealand flag laid on the floor, inviting people to \u201cplease walk on me\u201d.<\/p>\n
Prince\u2019s exhibits at the Hastings District Council-owned gallery also include weaving, drawings, paintings, a multimedia installation and sculptures made over several decades.<\/p>\n
Gallery director Sophie Davis said public galleries were spaces for reflection, learning and discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of our role is to present work that examines history and identity, including when it is challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe theft of the flag is now a police matter and that part of the exhibition will not return to display,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt remains important that our community can access the wider exhibition and its context.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s understood there has also been at least one attempt from members of the public to replace the flag with a NZ flag with the writing \u201cplease salute me\u201d on it.<\/p>\n
Doyle said he was really upset when he saw the \u201cplease walk on me\u201d flag on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told the receptionist I thought it was disgusting,\u201d Doyle said.<\/p>\n
He said he was shaking and upset for the whole of New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought to myself, \u2018how the hell can I protest?\u2019. On the floor, on either side of the flag, there were blocks of wood with writing on them, so I kicked one. That was my protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was almost crying, but I thought if it\u2019s alright to stand on the NZ flag, it\u2019s alright to kick a block of bloody wood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doyle said staff called the police and claimed he was banned from the gallery for two years on the spot.<\/p>\n
Gibson said earlier this week that 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
\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 earlier this week, on behalf of Prince, that the reaction to her 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
\u201cFlagging 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
The exhibition opened at Hastings Art Gallery on November 1 and is set to run until January 31.<\/p>\n
Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd said she had spoken with the council and urged it to review its policies regarding public art displays such as this one and \u201cuphold respect for our national flag\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have received numerous complaints from ratepayers about the display, and this raised the question of whether ratepayer money should fund this.\u201d<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A council spokesperson said there were cameras in the gallery and that matters around identifying the person involved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1228,38645,1558,30701,10039,83569,18940,71,1229,5194,42,43,9615,12064,4736,1361,40,38,41,39,686],"class_list":["post-169531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-art","tag-artwork","tag-been","tag-complaints","tag-controversial","tag-exhibit","tag-flag","tag-from","tag-gallery","tag-hastings","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-piece","tag-prompted","tag-stolen","tag-that","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169531","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=169531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169531\/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=169531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}