Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the judge advising her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked 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 local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
