Looks like whoever damaged the What the Nose Knows sculpture is less of a mystery, after an Oak Bay resident caught several youth playing with the sculpture on camera.
The resident was sleeping before she was woken up again in the night by a noisy mischievous group.
“They had actually woken me up earlier that night, I fell back to asleep but was woken up again, just in time to see the Nose take its fall,” she said in an email to the News.
She added that there were around five or six individuals, one on a bike, who was yelling before taking off scared when the sculpture plummeted on its nose. One was a young woman.
Meanwhile, What The Nose Knows made a full recovery and returned to its original place by week’s end.
The art piece was hauled out on the back of a truck for repairs on Monday after it was found perched with its “nose” onto the grass. As it turns out, the Nose had little damage, aside from the bent pole that supports the structure, said Chris Hyde-Lay, manager of parks for District of Oak Bay.
“It’s a crimp in the aluminum, but it’ll be back better than ever,” Hyde-Lay said, adding the damage is not as bad as initially thought.
Feelings about the Nose has been divided in the Oak Bay community between hating it or loving it since the sculpture was installed.
“It’s unfortunate that something like this had to happen … it’s not a good reflection on how the community really feels,” said Oak Bay Coun. Hazel Braithwaite, adding there has been lots of discussion about the Nose and its location.
Braithwaite hopes that whatever happened, it was not an act of hate, but a random act of vandalism.
“Hopefully we’ll show that we can bring it back and that it can be enjoyed again,” she said, adding the Nose has brought a lot more visitors to its Lokier Garden location at Musgrave Street and Estevan Avenue.
The Nose isn’t a permanent part of Oak Bay’s landscape anyway, as it’s part of the ArtsAlive program where works are on loan from the artist for one year.
octavian.lacatusu@ oakbaynews.com