Catholic school forced to cover up accidentally indecent statue
"Suggestive" statue of saint giving boy bread causes a stir
A Catholic school has been forced to cover a recently-erected statue after it raised eyebrows.
The statue of Saint Martin de Porres, shown giving a loaf of bread to a young boy, was installed outside Blackfriars Priory School in Adelaide last week.
But unfortunately for school staff, the sculpture ended up looking a little, er, indecent.
Saint Martin is producing the loaf from his cloak and, at first glance, it can look a little like something else
The unintentionally provocative design has sparked a wave of social media activity, forcing the school to take action to cover up the unfortunate statue.
According to news.com.au , staff covered the statue with a black cloth after students took photographs of it and posted them to social media at the end of last week.
By this week, it had had a fence installed around it to completely cover it up.
Principal Simon Cobiac revealed the reason nobody noticed how bad the statue looked before it was erected outside the school.
In a statement on Facebook, he explained that the plans, by a sculptor in Vietnam, were in 2D when they were approved and didn't look "suggestive".
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 wrote.
"As a consequence, the statue was immediately covered and a local sculptor has been commissioned to re-design it.
"The school apologises for any concerns and publicity generated by this matter and is taking action to substantially alter the statue."
When a photo of the statue was posted on Instagram, it prompted a flurry of memes of the statue with the bread being replaced by Subway sandwiches.
One person commented: "This is wrong on so so many levels!"
Another said: "Who the F designed that... surely someone has to say 'mmm BIG mistake'".
Catholic school forced to cover up accidentally "suggestive" statue of saint giving boy bread - Mirror Online