Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece 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, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor added the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
