This letter has been updated as of 14/11/2020 - 6:30 pm

We recognise that as of two days ago Tim Melville has released an apology via the gallery’s Instagram story. He has acknowledged that Tim Melville (the gallery) and Tim Melville (the individual) do not support Mercy Pictures and the exhibition. Tim has advised that he is “open to discussing how anti-colonial and anti-fascist action can be facilitated” and added, “If you need further clarification of my position I am happy to be contacted at the gallery”.

Tim’s apology can be found in the highlights on the Tim Melville Gallery’s Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/timmelvillegallery/

-We look forward to seeing the Tim Melville Gallery commit to anti-fascist education as well as understanding their responsibilities of care to the public as a prominent art gallery.

-We have removed Tim Melville’s name from the community asks below, in good faith that he has committed to these asks.

We’d also like to advise that some of the wording in this open letter has been changed for clarity.
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This letter has been updated as of 12/11/2020 - 1:00 pm

We recognise that as of yesterday morning (11/11/2020) Michael Lett has made a public apology outlining that he does not support the exhibition. The following has taken place:

Michael Lett has released an apology via a story on his personal Instagram and a post on his Facebook profile. This apology has been made public through the Auckland Pride website.
Auckland Pride Board has made a media release condemning Mercy Pictures and advising that Michael Lett has resigned from the Auckland Pride Board, following a third party mediation with members in the Pride community. The media release can be found here: https://aucklandpride.org.nz/auckland-pride-condemns-mercy-pictures/ 

We look forward to seeing, as outlined in Michael Lett’s apology, a commitment to “anti-fascist and anti-colonial education, and to understanding my obligations to Mana Whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.  

We have removed Michael Lett’s name from the community asks below, in good faith that he has committed to these asks.

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This letter has been updated as of 08/11/2020 -  7.30pm from its original posting, to reflect ongoing concern from communities. We have also updated the demands to include accountability for Ngāi Tūhoe and tangata whenua for the use of their flags and for perpetrating ongoing violence towards these communities.

We recognise at this time that an apology has been made by the co-facilitator Jerome Ngan-Kee aat Mercy Pictures, however this open letter still stands for the remaining facilitators and supporters at Mercy Pictures. We also recognise that apologies are meaningless and ineffective without ongoing, long-term action and accountability. Given the nature of these events, it is a bare minimum expectation that these apologies are followed by a staunch and unwavering commitment against white supremacy, fascism, and the spread of colonial, imperialist, and racist hatred.

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Statement in regards to the exhibition at Mercy Pictures By Quishile Charan, Jasmin Singh and Anevili:

The recent exhibition at Mercy Pictures, which displayed Neo-Nazi flags, symbolism and other far right imagery, placed next to symbols of mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga, is inherently colonial and perpetrates violence. This exhibition has also been put on during a time of high anti-black sentiment worldwide. This exhibition was put together by the gallery itself and had an accompanying text written by Nina Power (a writer affiliated with the alt-right who has made transphobic statements). Mercy Pictures has described Nina Power as a ‘philosopher’, in our opinion, condoning and normalising her transphobic, misogynistic and racist opinions.

The fact that this wasn't a discussion brought forward to the wider public until the exhibition was nearing the end and was kept within art circles, shows how complicit the art world is in perpetrating and upholding harm and violence. Art is not apolitical. Art has a currency and a weight in the world. By remaining silent and allowing these things to happen the art world has normalised this colonial and white supremacist rhetoric. By refusing to comment on this, people within the art world are remaining complicit within white supremacy. We believe that by having the privilege of running a gallery you are in a position of power and have actively chosen to inflict this harm. This exhibition, in our opinion, is the perpetuation of centuries of violence and should not be mistaken as a meaningless act of exhibition-making and curating.

We have seen that the justifications provided to avoid accountability have been to frame this exhibition as ‘edgy’ or having the intention to ‘provoke’ discussion. It needs to be pointed out that the justification of ‘provoking’ discussion is historically used by far-right, fascist and white supremacists as a way to avoid accountability for the harm and violence we believe they are perpetuating. In our view, by rationalising and justifying this exhibition, this gallery and its supporters have shown where their priorities lie.

The fact that people outside of this industry are the ones that are most vocally upset about this and demanding accountability is an issue within itself. Artists, curators and galleries etc. should not be excluded from critique and accountability for harmful and violent actions and the consequences of this harm.  

This is how white supremacy festers and results in overt physical violence. The colonial settler state of New Zealand has a growing issue with far-right and white supremacist rhetoric and we have seen the consequences during the Christchurch attacks. With the privileges that Mercy Pictures and Nina Power have, we believe they will not experience the immediate impacts of colonial and white supremacist violence that the exhibition endorses, but others will. We ask: where is the gallery’s responsibility of care for the public?

As we all know visual representation and symbolism carries history and meaning. These cannot be ‘subverted’ through one exhibition and the supposed ‘provocative’ conversations that the gallery is claiming were their intentions. We believe that hiding facist and white supremacist intent behind the guise of an exhibition or ‘provocative’ art does not stop the violent consequnces of this that are beyond the control of the gallery. While the gallery is continuing to hide behind its ‘art’, others do not and will not have these same privileges. People that do not have these privileges are literally going to face the physical violence that an exhibition like this can cause.

We believe that this exhibition is both harmful and violent, both through what is exhibited, the way in which the gallery has responded and is refusing to engage with the public outrage. Thank you to everyone who has brought this to public discussion and contributed to a critical and much needed discussion to how the arts perpetrates colonial and white supremacist violence. Thank you also to Tamaki Anti-Fascist Action for putting forward demands for accountability. We support the demands of Tamaki Anti-Fascist action:

1. Remove the exhibition immediately and apologise for putting it up.

2. Refuse to work with Nina Power in the future.

3. No longer platform facist and other far-right figures and symbols in the future.

And we further ask that:

1. Mercy Pictures de-platforms (leaving social media) to address the harm and violence they are causing.

2. Mercy Pictures and people affiliated (Jerome Ngan-Kee, Teghan Burt, Jonny Prasad, Jaimee Stockman-Young) actively engage in accountability with the communities they have harmed. This accountability process must and should be done through a third-party mediation process so as to not continue perpetuating this harm.

3. Request for Mercy Pictures to apologise to Ngāi Tūhoe for displaying their flags without permission, without the intent of their original purpose and amongst symbols of white supremacy. We believe that Mercy Pictures have contributed in upholding the violence of the New Zealand settler state against Ngāi Tūhoe and undermining the fact that Ngāi Tūhoe are still actively fighting against state violence.

4. Request for Mercy Pictures to apologise to tangata whenua for displaying their flags without permission, without the intent of their original purpose and amongst symbols of white supremacy. This can only be read as an act of disrespect. Tangata whenua are still actively fighting against state violence and these flags are a symbol of that.

We realise that Mercy Pictures may not see the harm they are causing and ask that anybody who recognise the colonial and white supremacist violence of this exhibition, please sign this letter in the hopes of ensuring accountability and the above demands are met.