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Billy Apple's New Zealand flag auctioned to raise money for Tame Iti's appeal against his Urewera Raids conviction

Billy Apple's New Zealand flag auctioned to raise money for Tame Iti's appeal against his Urewera Raids conviction


Recently Billy Apple produced a study for a flag based on Statistic New Zealand's 2006 Census data. The flag's composition is determined by the representation of Maori/Other population data using the golden ratio and tones of 100% black.

Apple's Study for a New Zealand flag was made for an art auction to raise money for Maori activist Tame Iti's appeal against his Urewera Raids conviction. Iti was accused of running military-style training camps in the Urewera Ranges in 2007 and is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence on convictions including firearm charges and possessing Molotov cocktails.

The auction raised $80,000 – enough for Iti to lodge his appeal.
Image: Billy Apple®, Study for a New Zealand flag, 2012, UV impregnated ink on primed canvas, 382 x 618 mm, collection of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki