14 July 2004
Artist Dick Frizzell has come up with two designs to replace the New Zealand flag.
Frizzell, of Hawkes Bay, who is one of more than 50 high-profile New Zealanders agitating for a new flag, said he was "pretty hot" on one of his new designs, which incorporates the Southern Cross constellation and a silver fern.
He said a new flag was necessary to get away from New Zealand's colonial past, as well as the similarity of its flag to Australia's.
"I can see a change in flags coming, and I was excited by the challenge," he said.
He had been struggling with the designs for years.
"It always comes back to that fern and the Southern Cross.
"I'm not particularly bothered that the cross is not unique to us. It can always be re-interpreted and it's so ... flaggish. Some traditions are hard to beat, and stars on flags is one of them."
His design provided a powerful echo of the existing flag, he said.
"The cross is more or less in the same position, but against black, which makes sense given that they're seen at night. The corner to corner arrangement is also an existing flag design tradition. The fern and the star look pretty good all in black, but I'm keen to introduce that pohutukawa green, partly to strike a note for our green image, and partly to get away from the sports thing.
"There's a pictorial thing going on here too, which can be a bit scary in a flag, but is a nice narrative here. We are looking at the night sky from underneath a silver fern, a nice bit of South Pacific romanticism, like an old Rudall Hayward movie."
Frizzell said he did not think he had "quite nailed" the fern but he was happy with the design.
A second design took a lead from Canada, replacing the maple with a silver fern and changing the red to green.
"All the talking-up and clever rationales aren't going to matter in the end. If it doesn't just reach out and say 'this is the New Zealand flag' then no amount of lobbying is going to do it."
Frizzell's works are held in all of the main public and corporate collections throughout New Zealand.
© NZPA