Agata Oleksiak, a Polish artist, is being accused of harming marine life in Cancun, Mexico, by putting her famous crocheted covers on a museum's underwater sculptures.

The artist, who goes by the name Olek, put her covers on sculptures of the Cancun Underwater Museum in August, The Associated Press reports. According to Oleksiak, she was trying to raise awareness of the various threats harming sea creatures including the whale shark.

Jaime Gonzalez, Cancun Underwater Museum director, however, claims Oleksiak altered the sculptures in "an environmentally protected area" without permission, according to AP. In addition, Gonzalez said her covers could have been detrimental to life that was living on the sculptures.

"Believe it or not, there is a lot of marine life growing, encrusted in the sculpture, and we gather that this has killed it," Gonzalez said.

According to the museum director, prosecutors are now gearing up to press charges against the Polish artist.

"If they want to sue me, I don't know," Oleksiak said. "I can pay them back with crocheting more underwater sculptures."

The artist added that she is uncertain as to why the museum would want to file a lawsuit against her.

"I don't know why would they sue me, but maybe they're a little bit upset that I did it there," Oleksiak added.

Oleksiak insists that by putting her covers on the sculptures, she was hoping to do good, not harm.

"But my intentions were positive and that's the most important thing about my work," she said. "I really want to create a positive message."

Oleksiak has put her crocheted covers on various structures before. This includes a statue of a bull in Wall Street, New York and a bus.

"I crochet everything that enters my space," her official website said. "Sometimes it's a text message, a medical report, found objects. There is the unraveling, the ephemeral part of my work that never lets me forget about the limited life of the art object and art concept. What do I intend to reveal? You have to pull the end of the yarn and unravel the story behind the crochet."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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