This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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The National Arts Centre has announced that it has the surveillance footage of the time when the sculpture of Canadian jazz icon, Oscar Peterson, was vandalized in downtown Ottawa and that it is handing it over to the police for investigation. It is yet to be determined whether the incident was an isolated incident of vandalism or part of an ongoing protest.
The artist who made the sculpture, Ruth Abernethy, claimed to be thrilled by the possibility that the act may be one of racial protest. Soon after learning about the incident of someone painting tears onto the eyes of the sculpture that sits at the northeast corner of Elgin and Albert streets, Kitchener-area sculptor alleged that “whether it’s connected to the events in Ferguson (Missouri) I have no idea” but “you don’t have to go far to find ourselves running into the hostility of racism. Whatever part Oscar can play in that ongoing protest, and the dissolution of it, then let’s have that conversation.”
The bronze sculpture had tears painted over its eyes with gold paint on the dark patina. The experts have determined that apart from a wayward drop of paint that dribbled into Peterson’s mouth and a few specks that landed on his jacket, there is no other disfigurement to the large, 600-kilogram figure. According to NAC director of communications, Rosemary Thompson, the surveillance footage has confirmed that two youths painted the eyes at approximately 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, who also put graffiti “tags” on two outside garage doors of the NAC.
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