MAY 30, 2025 — A New Zealand art gallery has removed a controversial flag installation just 19 days into its planned five-month display, citing safety concerns following public backlash, reports AP.
The Suter Art Gallery in Nelson said Thursday it took down the work by Māori artist Diane Prince due to growing tensions and safety concerns. The piece, Flagging the Future, was created in 1995 in protest of a government cap on Māori land compensation, according to Radio New Zealand.
Police said they are investigating “several” complaints.
The cloth flag, featuring the Union Jack and red stars, was part of Diane Prince: Activist Artist, intended to provoke reflection on colonization’s legacy. “I have no attachment to the New Zealand flag,” Prince said. “I don’t call myself a New Zealander. I call myself a Māori.”
Desecrating the flag is taboo in New Zealand and can lead to fines, though prosecutions are rare. Some see the flag as a military symbol; others, especially some Māori, see it as a symbol of dispossession.
One protestor, Ruth Tipu, whose grandfather served in the Māori Battalion, posted video of herself lifting the flag off the floor, saying she would repeat the act daily. The local veterans’ association called it “shameful” and “offensive,” and council member Tim Skinner said he was “horrified.”
Nelson’s deputy mayor, Rohan O’Neill-Stevens, defended the work, saying it challenged viewers: “Artistic expression and the right for us all to be challenged and confronted by art.”
The gallery said its removal was due to a “sharp escalation in the tone and nature of the discourse” and not a judgment on the artwork or artist.
Image: Radio New Zealand
