The Chicago police are investigating a defacement of 18 statues by Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir at the city’s Grant Park, ruv.is reports. The statues are a part of her installation of 26 human figures, entitled ‘Borders.’ The saboteurs had sprayed illegible letters on the statues.
The case has garnered a great deal of attention in Chicago. The statues were placed in Grant Park last August and the park’s director Bob O’Neil told the Chicago Tribune that it appears that the defaced statues show two different signatures, which suggests that more than one person were involved. The case was immediately reported to the police. He believes that the vandals did the damage late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the statues were supposed to have been removed but the artist had decided to prolong their stay until October due to the installation’s popularity.
O’Neil told the Chicago Tribune that the vandalism was bad for the city’s image. “We worked hard to bring this installation here—it hurts to see so much of it damaged.”
