Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the judge advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
