By Jenny Noyes
A controversial mural depicting Australian Border Force officers standing below a sarcastic "welcome" message on the Bondi Beach seawall has been defaced, hours after Waverley Council voted against calls to remove it.
Archibald-nominated Sydney artist Luke Cornish, also known as E.L.K, was invited by the council to create the eight-metre mural on the seawall to coincide with his solo exhibition on display at the Bondi Pavilion.
Luke Cornish and his defaced mural.Credit: AAP, Luke Cornish, Dallas Kilponen
The mural sparked heated debate following its completion on July 26, with some councillors and residents calling for its immediate removal.
In a post to Instagram last week, Cornish defended the confronting work, which showed a line of gun-carrying Border Force officers against a black background under the message "(Not) Welcome to Bondi".
The mural was intended to be a comment on Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, Cornish said.
A controversial mural by artist Luke Cornish on the Bondi Beach seawall has been defaced.Credit: Janie Barrett
"I’ve had a mixed reaction to this work, understandably, but to put it in context, the piece is a comment on our treatment of asylum seekers in Australian detention facilities," Cornish wrote in the Instagram post.
"The 24 Australian Border force officers represent the 24 suicides in these detention facilities [onshore and offshore] since 2010."
A Change.org petition to Waverley Council calling for the mural's removal described it as "not just offensive but totally inappropriate for a family location".
At a council meeting on Tuesday night, a motion to remove the mural immediately was voted down; however, a motion moved by Waverley mayor John Wakefield noted the mural was temporary and would be replaced following Cornish's exhibition.
Just hours later, somebody decided to go ahead and cover up the mural using white paint.
On Wednesday morning, Cornish told ABC radio that whoever painted over his work "has committed a criminal offence by defacing public art" and he would be interested to see any CCTV.
But Cornish told The Sydney Morning Herald he wouldn't be reporting the vandalism to police.
While the artwork was "always intended to be temporary", Cornish said the timeframe for displaying the mural had not been discussed with council.
"They weren’t expecting me to paint something quite so confrontational, and nobody was expecting this kind of reaction. To be honest, I didn't think it would last more than two days.
"Street art is ephemeral by nature, and political street art in the public arena is extremely ephemeral," he said.
Cornish said he was disappointed that the focus of the debate around the mural had become about censorship rather than Australia's treatment of asylum seekers.
"The conversation I wanted to have has been completely hijacked. It's a conversation about freedom of speech now, and that's not what I wanted to be talking about.
"Everyone should just calm the f--- down and talk about what the actual problem is."
He said he feels qualified to comment on the issue of asylum seekers because he has been to Syria and seen what people fleeing the conflict have left behind.
"I think asking for them to be treated with respect should not be seen as a rebellious act. It should be common decency."
He said he wished people who were offended by the mural "were as offended by many, many people committing suicide … as offended by that as a picture on the wall.
"People saying their children are traumatised by the mural … there are literally children in detention with their teeth rotting out."
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