Millionaire patron of the arts Sir James Wallace has been publicly named for indecently assaulting three young men. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
An artist and advocate for sexual abuse survivors says she wants her artwork out of the Wallace collection after it was revealed its founder indecently assaulted three men.
Sir James Wallace, 85, was publicly named earlier this week after being found guilty of indecently assaulting three young men in the early 2000s, 2008 and 2016.
For five years he was referred to only as a "prominent businessman", but on Wednesday Wallace's name suppression lapsed in the Supreme Court.
He was initially charged in 2017, with the case running through the courts over several years and several appeals.
Anne Hill, an advocate for sexual abuse survivors, was herself abused by the Catholic Church in her youth.
She said the news about Wallace deeply impacted her.
"I was genuinely distraught," she said, "and I am still experiencing the effects of being retraumatised and triggered."
Hill had a piece of artwork in the Wallace collection, purchased in the 80s.
"It was a time in my life where I felt pretty happy about myself, I'd always pointed to that as evidence that once I had a life that wasn't defined by survivor culture," she said.
"I feel like that's been totally taken away."
Hill said she could not, as someone who fights for victims of child sexual abuse, be in any way associated with Wallace, describing what happened as horrible and disgusting.
She said she wanted the Trust management, which runs the collection, to communicate with artists, giving them the option to remove their works from the collection if they choose.
"I don't think it should be my job to figure out how to remove myself from their institutionalised exhibition, it's their job to look after me as a survivor who no longer wants to be part of it," Hill said.
The Arts House Trust currently operates the Pah Homestead where the collection resides.
The Arts House Trust said it had not had a relationship with Wallace since 2021, when the trustees of the James Wallace Arts Trust established the new charitable entity, The Arts House Trust.
The Trust said it had reached out to Hill to discuss her request.
A spokesperson said the trust's objective was to support and promote contemporary art and artists in New Zealand and to care for and provide access to its collection.
Assets, excluding Rannoch House, are being transferred from the James Wallace Arts Trust to The Arts House Trust.
Hill hoped other artists would do as she is trying to, acting in opposition to Wallace.
"I don't want to, in any way, lift his reputation as an art person, when what he is is a predator, and an abuser."
Organisations address Wallace conviction
Auckland University of Technology says it is looking into stripping Wallace of his honorary doctorate.
AUT awarded Wallace an honorary doctorate in 2018 to recognise his record of supporting the arts and his philanthropy.
At the time, the university said it had 325 art works on display on its three campuses, loaned from the Wallace Collection.
On Thursday, AUT said it was currently working through "a process" and that a decision would be announced in due course.
The prime minister said a process was under way to remove Wallace's knighthood.
Auckland Council which leases the Pah Homestead with The Arts House Trust, where a number of works from the collection hang, said it would continue its agreements after the Trust previously resettled the collection and severed its connections with Sir James Wallace.
But Anne Hill said it would take more than gestures to support Wallace's victims.
"It would be good to suggest that people ask [the victims] what they need, and consider that this in itself won't end their issues," she said.
In Christchurch, the board of McLean's Mansion, whose repairs and refurbishments have been funded by Wallace, did not address his convictions.
The said they were focusing on completing the project to restore a part of Christchurch's history.
