"It's cold, it's concrete, it was winter, it was freezing, so they are just freezing."
Community safety manager Phil Evans has refuted the claims animals are mistreated and said they work closely with the SPCA.
The clothesline holds 32 blankets to represent the number of cages at Hastings Pound. Like prayer flags, they are arranged in sets of five colours and carry messages of peace, compassion, strength, wisdom and change.
"I am an artist who works from the wound, I have to be pretty wounded to do art. It's about animal control mistreating these dogs."
Designed to "scream at society", her piece takes a contemporary feminist approach to the relationship between art and life, making the viewer a political witness.
This is not the first time she has made a stand through art - in 2005 she made herself a human billboard in a brave stand against rape, which was publicised nationwide.
Community safety manager Phil Evans refutes the claim that animals are mistreated while being kept at the facility.
"Our trained Animal Control Officers work closely with the SPCA Animal Welfare Officers and our vet to ensure that all the animals' needs are met," he says.
"The animal enclosures are hosed out on a regular basis but the dogs are removed before any cleaning commences. Animals which come to the pound with an illness are checked by our vets in the first instance, and we work with the SPCA where there is ongoing care required.
"Heat lamps are provided for young and sick animals to ensure they are kept warm."
Hastings and District SPCA staff regularly visit the pound and have their own facilities on the corner of Maraekakaho and Heathcote roads.