UPDATE!: Canadian artist accused of altering Easter Island archeological sites

Canadian artist accused of altering Easter Island archeological sites

Debbie Parkes
CanWest News Service
Sunday, April 17, 2005

*CREDIT: La Tercera, Associated Press
According to Chilean authorities, rearranged rocks at this site on Easter Island led to arrest of William Vazan.

CREDIT: La Tercera, Associated Press
Detectives on Easter Island inspect site as part of an investigation. Canadian artist William Vazan is accused of using rocks of 'archeological value' in order to make a sculpture. Easter Island is part of Chile.*

MONTREAL -- Montreal artist William Vazan has gained international acclaim for his land, sculptural and photo works.

The attention he's been getting in recent days may not be quite what he had hoped for.

Vazan is facing charges on Chile's remote Easter Island for allegedly moving rocks on archeological sites to form new figures for his photo works.

In an interview Saturday, Vazan's daughter, Montrealer Danielle Vazan, expressed doubt her father would have moved about stones that were clearly of archeological significance.

"I think that my dad is fairly intelligent and he knows about this stuff," she said. "Usually my father is respectful of something that has an official historical tag to it."

She said her 71-year-old father has travelled as far away as Morocco, Israel and Peru to do his land art and has never run into legal trouble. However, this was, as far as she knows, the first time that he was attempting to do one of his creations in a protected area.

She said she hadn't spoken to her father about his legal problems, and only found out about them through a reporter.

William Vazan couldn't be reached at the private residence where he was staying early Saturday. He's been ordered to remain on the island while an investigation into his case continues. On Friday, a judge gave authorities 22 days to complete their work.

Danielle Vazan said a Canadian Foreign Affairs official told her that embassy officials had spoken to her father but that he declined assistance.

Officials at Rapa Nui National Park -- a UNESCO heritage site -- informed police Wednesday about a disturbance at one site, said Enrique Tucki, the park's chief administrator, in a telephone interview Saturday.

He said William Vazan wasn't present when officials came across the rock design. However he was located that night with the help of witnesses.

Park officials later discovered six more cases of stones that were moved about within the park, Tucki said.

He said it appears that some of the cases are relatively minor, in that they appear to have been carried out in "nature" using rocks that aren't of archeological importance. However in two, and possibly three cases, the stones are believed to have been taken from the sites of ancient ceremonial grounds, and possibly even from ceremonial structures themselves.

"As far as I know, it's the same all over the world -- you can't just go into a national park or a historical site and set things up or move things around without asking for permission and without presenting a project," said Tucki.

Danielle Vazan said her father had been intending to leave Easter Island last Friday and was to have returned to Montreal on April 28.

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is located about 3,700 kilometres off the coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean. It's best known for its mysterious collection of enormous moai volcanic rock statues that dot the hilly landscape of the island.

Tucki said this is the fourth time in two years that complaints have been laid against park visitors for damaging property or moving stones.

He said in one case, a Japanese tourist was found guilty of marking a moai with graffiti. In another, a British tourist was found guilty of toppling part of a moai. Last year, an Italian tourist was convicted of scratching a moai, he said.

Though he didn't have precise figures in front of him, he said as best as he can remember they were fined amounts ranging from about $4,000 to $6,000 Cdn.

-How sadly ironic that this should be announced so close to the anniversary of Thor Heyerdahl's passing.

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine on 2005-05-02 09:56 ]

"Vazan is facing charges on Chile's remote Easter Island for allegedly moving rocks on archeological sites to form new figures for his photo works."

There aren't enough figures present already for historical works?

More disturbing is the random acts of vandalism noted in the article.

I (happily) visited Stonehenge before it was fenced off and I would hate to have something similar happen on Rapa Nui.

"In another, a British tourist was found guilty of toppling part of a moai."

I think the only appropriate punishment is to be tossed head first off a cliff from Rapa Nui.

[ Edited by: christiki295 on 2005-04-18 20:22 ]

That's so messed up. The only thing that needs to be thrown is the book at this Vazan'del.

Fo shizzy!

Oh good grief. Somebody please help the man step away from the sacred stones and put down his freakin crack pipe. :roll:

Artist Bill Vazan, 71, had 36 rolls of film seized and was ordered to pay $5,000 for moving some rocks on Easter Island.

Artist pays steep price for moving rocks

Sue Montgomery
CanWest News Service

May 2, 2005

MONTREAL -- Bill Vazan is finding comfort in the familiar and sometimes irritating tasks of being a law-abiding Canadian.

In a matter of days, the Montreal artist went from the surreal and unsettling situation of facing criminal charges for moving rocks in Chile, to the mundane task of filing his federal and provincial income taxes before tonight's deadline.

After three court appearances on Easter Island, 3,600 kilometres off the coast of Chile, Vazan's lawyer managed to negotiate his client's way to freedom.

"They didn't have a bona fide translator in court so I was getting things in a mangled way," said Vazan, who knows very little Spanish and legalese.

And even when a deal was reached, a lawyer for the Chilean government was pleading with the judge to throw Vazan in jail.

"I was afraid I'd be staying there longer," he said nonchalantly in a phone interview from his home.

In the end, he was given a suspended sentence, but had to pay a $5,000 fine by getting a cash advance on his credit card, write an apology to four heads of government and is not allowed to return to Easter Island for two years. But what is more upsetting to the 71-year-old artist, is that all his work -- 36 rolls of film -- was seized.

"I'm sad and dismayed it came to this," said Vazan, who has been home since Thursday. "I didn't think it would be as severe as it was. I think they wanted to make an example of me."

On the evening of April 13, after 11 days in Chile, five or six burly police officers showed up at Vazan's guest house and crowded into his tiny room.

"They were basically saying we suspect something and you better own up," Vazan said.

"They looked in my bags and wanted my cameras. They didn't rough me up, although I could see the potential for that."

The men finally left, after giving Vazan instructions to be at court at 9 the next morning.

After a night spent worrying and wondering, Vazan went to court where he was appointed a lawyer.

The charge was that he had moved rocks on archeological sites in the Rapa Nui National Park to form new figures for his photographs.

Vazan blames the young local man he hired to work with him -- someone recommended to him by the guest house owner.

The two men carried rocks over 100 to 200 metres and placed them in the shape of an octopus.

"I trusted this man to help me," said Vazan, adding that after three days, the man decided he didn't want to do the work anymore. Vazan wonders if he knew they were doing something illegal.

"Maybe I should have been thinking more or taking more precautions," he said. "I'm quite aware of the cultural and archeological significance (of the sites) and my work tries to make people aware of this, too."

The helper was also charged, but Vazan doesn't know what the outcome was.

The artist now is hoping to take his cameras -- all his equipment was returned to him -- to Namibia in southern Africa, or to Antarctica.

Vazan has gained international acclaim for his land, sculptural and photo works, which was on display at Ottawa's National Gallery of Art and Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography until April 24.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2005

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine on 2005-05-02 10:00 ]

It seems there's enough ideas to go around for art and photography without defacing someone else's, right? Just because the man is nationally acclaimed and 71 doesn't mean he was thinking with a clear head. I think he got off rather easy, but that's one artist's opinion. What's next...rebuilding the pyramids?

http://www.kimberlypcoburn.com

[ Edited by: beachin on 2005-05-09 18:51 ]

yeah, leave the tipping of the Moai to the people of easter island like they loved to do in the past.

Just think, if this guys name was Thor, he could dig anywhere he wanted and lie and say he had magical power to take all the people family rocks. Aku Aku