A Golden Bay artist and Tasman District Council are at odds over artwork painted on a public footpath outside the artist’s Collingwood gallery.
Artist Kelvin Mcenney, who goes by the name NgAngA, has occupied the former MAD Café site for almost a decade. He runs his gallery from the space and has painted the footpath outside in a large black-and-white checkerboard pattern, with two brightly coloured “energy points” at either end.
Kelvin says he plans to continue the artwork further along the footpath.
The Tasman District Council approached him in February after receiving a complaint from a member of the public and advice from Blind Low Vision NZ. He was requested to either remove the paint or top it with asphalt-coloured paint within 28 days, or risk being charged for the work.
The council is also asking Kelvin to remove tables and chairs placed outside the gallery, which it says take up footpath and road space without a Licence to Occupy. The council says this breaches the Traffic Control Bylaw 2016 and the Public Spaces Bylaw 2024.
“We acknowledge NgAngA is a creative member of the Golden Bay community. However, we would ask anyone considering artwork on council roads or footpaths to please contact us with any proposals before it is carried out,” the council says.
Kelvin disputes the council’s authority over the footpath and says a Native Assessors Court, held at his gallery earlier this month, ruled in his favour. He says he has self-determined his own hapū, called Ngā Wai ē Rua, and claims full jurisdiction over the footpath.
“I’m running alongside that system; I’m not brought under that septic system,” he says.
“I’m quite a threat to them, because a free man is a danger to them, but a free-spirited man… look out, basically.”
Kelvin says he has repaired the cracked footpath and has used the correct paint, a Resene paving product, to mitigate any safety risks. He also washes down the footpath every day and sanitises it weekly.
He says the yin-yang style design is charged with “divine masculine feminine energy” and describes the space as deeply healing.
In correspondence with the council, he says the footpath is “now the cleanest and safest footpath most likely in all of the land of New Zeal”.
However, the council’s legal team has confirmed the Native Assessors Court is not part of the New Zealand legal system, and says it is not obliged to attend or respond to invitations from it.
The council says rules and policies governing public spaces are not pointless bureaucracy.
“They are there to avoid public nuisance and safety issues from being created by inappropriate actions of individuals, and protect the freedom of all residents to enjoy public spaces,” it says.
Regarding the remediation of the footpath, the council says it will arrange rectification at a time that suits its contractors.
