Walk on the NZ Flag and It's 'art'
Try that with a Pride Flag and It's a 'hate crime'"
An art gallery in Nelson is proudly displaying a piece that invites you to walk all over the New Zealand flag. That’s right – "Please Walk On Me" is boldly stencilled onto the national symbol, lying beneath a symbolic flax tripod in Diane Prince’s reworked 1995 piece Flagging the Future. And somehow, this is all okay in the name of “art”.
Prince, known for her Māori activism, originally created the piece to criticise the Bolger government's cap on Treaty of Waitangi settlements. Thirty years later, it’s still sparking outrage – and rightly so.
Barry Pont of the Nelson RSA called it exactly what it is – an insult to veterans. “We’ve fought under that flag,” he said. “To wipe your feet on it is an insult in my eyes.”
But of course, context is everything, right? Because if this artwork featured a rainbow or trans flag on the floor with "Please Walk On Me" across it, the reaction would be nuclear. The TQ+ community, progressive groups, and the Greens would be lining up to call it a hate crime. Media outlets would run wall-to-wall coverage, there would be petitions, resignations demanded, and protests outside the gallery.
Yet when it's the national flag – something that represents unity, service, and sacrifice for many New Zealanders – it's somehow fair game.
Mayor Nick Smith called the artwork “in bad taste” and noted several complaints. Still, he quickly added that the gallery is independent and aiming to “provoke thought”. Sure. Try “provoking thought” with a pride flag like that and see how far that argument gets you.
Curator Gina Matchitt defended the piece by saying the flag means different things to different people. Fair enough. But this isn't just edgy commentary – it's a deliberate attempt to provoke, and if that’s acceptable, then it should be acceptable across the board.
The Suter Gallery director says challenging convention is the role of art. Fine. But let’s call this what it is – a blatant double standard. You cannot claim to uphold respect and inclusivity while selectively deciding which symbols deserve it.
Apparently, the national flag is disposable. Minority flags, on the other hand, are untouchable. That’s not progress. That’s fucked.
Nick Smith - another coward and quisling, down on his knees with Potato Head Luxon and Appeaser Brownlee!
This “artwork” reminded me of my utter disgust in coming across DK Ratana’s version of Three Wise Monkeys entitled “Land of The Wrong White Crowd” at the Wairau Art Gsllery at Hunderwassar in Whangarei. Is easily found online should you not have seen it already.