Fitzroy bondage mural outrages activist group, but its defacing upsets admirers
A Fitzroy mural depicting a woman in bondage has been defaced almost as soon as it became enshrouded in controversy, prompting frustration from onlookers who travelled to admire it.
The 15-metre wide work, on a building in a quiet bluestone laneway, became the subject of outrage when activist group Collective Shout started a campaign to have it removed and argued it glamorised violence against women.
The campaign launched on the weekend and led to Yarra City Council being flooded with more than 1000 complaints, many of which were identical in format. The council has yet to step in, but the majority of the work, by Los Angeles-based artist Lauren YS, has now been painted over with tags.
The mural is on the rear of a nondescript commercial property, where no one answered on Monday.
Lauren YS said on Instagram they'd named the work Kinbakubi, which translates literally from Japanese to 'the beauty of tight binding'. The artist said it was 'a parting gift for Melbourne' that they were commissioned to paint at a photo studio.
On Monday, the handful of people to walk by the laneway during the hour The Age was there had come specifically to see the artwork. Most were saddened to see it ruined.
Some pointed out it location, which is just a few minutes' walk from the Lucrezia & De Sade fetish store and sex shop Passionfruit, both in Brunswick Street.
Magenta Chello, from Ballarat, arrived with her partner to admire the depiction of the bound and gagged woman as active members of the kink community. She said the painting was 'absolutely beautiful'.
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