What I love in particular is that the Little Diver’s question – though still imponderable – is brought back. It almost seems she is asking now:

“Why is this happening to me?

A photo of the re-resurfaced diver – and a series of photos telling the story – can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/phoenixthestreetartist/galleries/72157623788302633/

An image of this can be seen at: http://twitpic.com/1jhc9b

Banksy’s Little Diver has been a controversial piece within the local street art and graffiti community ever since it was lauded, ‘valued’(at $400,000), protected under perspex, and given an official Melbourne City Council street art plaque.
Many have considered the vandalism and virtual obliteration of the original piece, by silver paint tipped behind the Council’s perspex screen, to have been carried out by local street artists or graffiti taggers in defiance of the Council’s attempts to turn the work into a tourist attraction.

My restoration piece, which carefully reproduced the parts of the piece lost beneath the silver paint – but preserved its intact parts – has lasted just three weeks before being itself targetted. Clearly the controversy surrounding the Little Diver remains – providing an interesting side-story to this other controversy over the defacement of a Banksy.