A giant mural depicting the nude selfie that became the subject of a debate about female sexuality has been defaced with misogynistic words such as ‘slut’ written across it.
A 30ft depiction of the divisive naked selfie Kim Kardashian-West shared with her followers appeared on 13 March on the wall of a digital printing shop in Melbourne, Australia.
Street artist Lush Sux has claimed responsibility for the piece. He said it was vandalised eight hours after he finished painting it.
Sux has painted a number of pieces of walls and buildings that reference celebrity or comment on social media and modern life.
He told The Independent it has been "a total circus" since the painting was completed. "Feminists protesting at the mural, women taking naked selfies with Kim [...] angry locals knocking on the owners door to give them their two cents and some change.
"When I saw the original photo I couldn't help but paint it three stories high. I guess you could say I like the attention much like Kim.
"[It was defaced] just eight hours after completion. I didn't even get to get a good night's sleep before I had to go and fix it again. To add insult to injury it has since been sprayed with the word ‘WHORE’. I don't personally know [why the mutual was targeted], these are the mysteries of the universe. All I know is that it was unfortunately a given considering the subject matter."
After sharing the image with her 41.8 million followers, Kardashian-West was criticised by a number of high-profile people while others rushed to defend her right to express and celebrate her sexuality.
The reality TV star and business woman faced a number of gendered insults in response to her naked selfie, many of which relate to the leaked sex tape she was in 13 years ago. But in her own empowering essay for International Women’s Day, she vowed to stop trying to prove all the ways in which she is more than something that happened without her consent over a decade ago.
