Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a individual placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She added the council would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the creators inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
