Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and informed the court she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
