Less than a week after a series of photographs were erected in Cape Town, they have been vandalised.

The series – Un/Settled by Sydelle Willow Smith – was erected at the Company’s Garden, the historic park in central Cape Town, on Thursday. The photos were vandalised on Monday, just four days later.

The work aimed to encourage debate about whiteness and its power dynamics. Instead it was defaced with permanent markers and smeared with human feces. At least one of the pieces had the word “Fools” written on it.

Smith said she was shocked by the vandalism, adding that it was aimed at discouraging dialogue about whiteness and entitlement.

“Un/Settled is a living, breathing project and I’ve always wanted it to spark conversation,” she explained.

“Obviously in a social media setting, when you post this kind of work, it gets a lot of engagement – but it’s a filtered engagement. So there’s a rawness to put out work in a physical, public space.”

For the project, Smith interviewed and photographed several white South Africans from different cultural and economic backgrounds. She said she had “honest conversations” with them.

One of her artwork depicts Shane Lunkhanyo Eades, a trainee sangoma, who told Smith: “I work damn hard for my money, but it is easier because I am white. You have an unfair starting block, without a ball and chain.”

When the series was erected last week, Smith told TimesLIVE that it had taken her five years to put it all together. She is now faced with the burden of getting the photographs professionally cleaned.

Reluctant to say exactly how much she would pay to repair the artwork, Smith said she expected it to cost at least R30,000.