Footage Shows Culturally 'Important' Sand Sculpture Being Defaced By Teenager

Jan 13, 2023 by apost team

There are many ways to celebrate a culture or nation’s history with art, music and other forms of expression. One less commonly known form of art is the creation of sand sculptures. This takes delicate care and a lot of time and energy to build. At the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, there is a sand sculpture that represents two children during the Makahiki season, which is an ancient Hawaiian New Year celebration. 

This was the first sand sculpture to be featured at the iconic pink hotel, and they were very excited when it was completed in July 2019. Just a month later, a teenage girl reached over the partition and destroyed the majority of the sculpture, even knocking off the head of one of the figures. In surveillance footage, which caught the entire vandalism incident on camera, the girl is seen clawing at the sculpture to deface the artwork. At one point, she actually grabs a pillow and throws it at the sand sculpture to try and knock it down even further.

The artist had returned home to Florida after finishing the project but then had to turn around and fly back to Hawaii a few weeks later to repair the damage. The girl and her friend, who was recording her on a cellphone the entire time, have been identified by the police thanks to the release of the surveillance footage and the help of anonymous tippers. The two vandals will face criminal charges, but the hotel said it would not ban the teenage girl or her friend. Keep reading to find out why and to learn more about this story.

The surveillance footage was released to the public to help identify the vandals. “Within a couple of hours, we started getting a bunch of tips and getting possible suspect names,” Sgt. Chris Kim said. “I’m sure at the time these juveniles probably thought it was funny, not realizing how much damage it would cost and essentially the long-term effects on their reputation.”

It turns out the girls were not tourists. Kim said that the two teens live in Oahu. The officer added: “They’re estimating it had to have been over $1,500 in damages.” According to KHON2, the case was ruled: “criminal property damage in the second degree, which is a Class C Felony.”

The sand sculpture was more than just something beautiful to look at. It held cultural significance as well. “This is the first hand sculpture that the Royal Hawaiian has and so we’re so proud of it because the Royal Hawaiian speaks to that rich sense of culture and that’s what makes this so important to us,” said the director of cultural services for Kyo-ya Hotels Hawaii, Kehaulani Kam.

Kam said that it was hard for her to understand why a person would choose to do something like this, but the teen should not be banned from returning to the hotel. Kam shared, “For me, I hope whoever did do it will get a better understanding of what she did and the importance of coming here. We welcome her back, but what she needs to do is to work with us and to better understand the history and the deep sense of who we are as people of Hawaii.”

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What do you think of this property damage? Should the girls be banned from the hotel? Let us know, and be sure to send this on to your friends and family.