Reinstatement

Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, 2026

In 2026, forty years will have passed since homosexual law reform in Aotearoa New Zealand. In legal terms, the 1986 Act decriminalised consensual sexual activity between men. Yet this legislative change can also be understood as an act of reinstatement. Same-sex intimacy was not inherently criminal; it became so through the imposition of British colonial law, which introduced moral and legal frameworks foreign to earlier social orders. The reform therefore did not grant a new freedom, but reinstated a legal condition that had been removed. This work reflects on reinstatement as a historical correction, while recognising that the effects of criminalisation continue to shape queer lives beyond the moment of legal change. The project was commissioned by Precinct Properties Ltd. and manifests as work developed by Novak with local queer communities across multiple sites including:

What survived did so without permission, Commercial Bay airbridge, Auckland, New Zealand
Care carried quietly from hand to hand, Britomart Place, Auckland, New Zealand
Rooms were made where none were offered, Jarden House, Auckland, New Zealand
Pressure gathered, patient and exact, Precinct Properties HQ, Auckland, New Zealand
Until the law moved, and kept moving, PwC Tower, Auckland, New Zealand
Forty years settling into the present, HSBC Tower, Auckland, New Zealand
Not as an ending, but as breathing space, Aon Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
Held open by those who remain alert, 12 Madden Street, Auckland, New Zealand
Each gain watched, defended, extended, Beca House, Auckland, New Zealand
The work continuing, brighter for being shared, Pipiri Lane, Auckland, New Zealand
A forward motion built on memory, Aon Centre, Wellington, New Zealand
Where every step into the open light, NTT Tower, Wellington, New Zealand
Honours the hands that pushed the heavy doors, Bowen Campus, Wellington, New Zealand
Until the frame itself began to yield, Waring Taylor Street, Wellington, New Zealand