Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates 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 municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She added the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the artwork was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
