Australian Catholic school forced to censor 'inappropriate' statue of saint feeding bread to child
A Catholic school in Australia was forced to cover its new statue after 'inappropriate' photos of it went viral on social media.
Blackfriars Priory School in Adelaide unveiled its new statue of St martin de Porres handing a kneeling child some bread last week.
Unfortunately, the design left room for interpretation and the school were left embarrassed after students took inappropriate photos of the statue and posted them on social media.
The school immediately covered the statue with a black cloth and cordoned it off.
However, images of the statue were already online and people were quick to respond to the controversial statue.
Cheryl Prevor wrote: “It's extraordinary that at no point between chiseling the marble to, well literally erecting the statue, not one person paused and said "Really, that's what you're going with?"
It's extraordinary that at no point between chiseling the marble to, well literally erecting the statue, not one person paused and said "Really, that's what you're going with?"
— Cheryl Prevor Psy.D (@DrCherylllP) November 22, 2017
Other more innocent viewers did not understand the fuss surrounding the statue:
I see nothing unusual in that the Saint is offering a young boy a small loaf of bread.
— News View (@NewsView100) November 22, 2017
Whereas some questioned the motives of the artist:
I see nothing unusual in that the Saint is offering a young boy a small loaf of bread.
— News View (@NewsView100) November 22, 2017
On Wednesday, Blackfriars Priory School released a statement on the matter on its Facebook page.
The school claimed that the statue was made in Vietnam by a sculptor that it had worked with before.
Due to the distance between the two countries the school were unable to view the statue before it was installed.
According to Principal Simon Cobiac, “the two-dimensional concept plans for the statue were viewed and approved by the executive team in May but upon arrival the three-dimensional statue was deemed by the executive to be potentially suggestive.”
He said that the school has commissioned a local sculptor to redesign the statue.