Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly 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 property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a person putting fake eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
