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Friday, May 23, 2008

Police quiz photographer over nude shots

Police have interviewed photographer Bill Henson about an art exhibition featuring nude shots of teenagers.

The exhibition was to open at the Roslyn Oxley9 gallery in the Sydney suburb of Paddington last night.

The gallery agreed to suspend the exhibition while police conduct interviews.

Police still need to talk to a 13-year-old girl who appears on the invitation for the exhibition.

They also want to speak to her parents, before deciding if the exhibition should go ahead.

Images from the exhibition that were displayed on the gallery's website have been taken down.

Detectives from the Child Exploitation Internet Unit are reviewing them.

The Department of Community Services has also been contacted.

The Minister for Community Services, Kevin Greene, says police and the Office of the Children's Guardian are investigating to see if the photos break any laws.

'Revolting'

The exhibition has reopened the debate about censorship and what constitutes pornography.

Gallery staff say they received a large number of phone complaints before the exhibition was suspended.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told Channel Nine the photos are revolting.

"Kids deserve to have the innocence of their childhood protected," Mr Rudd said.

"I have a very deep view of this. For God's sake, let's just allow kids to be kids.

"Whatever the artistic merits of that sort of stuff, frankly I don't think there are any."

The New South Wales Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, says the photographs are inappropriate.

"Art will always push society's boundaries, but protection of our children must always be the priority," he said.

"It wasn't OK for a 14-year-old model fully dressed to be on the catwalk for Australian Fashion week, [so] it's definitely not OK for naked children to have their privacy and childhood stolen in the name of art."

Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston thinks police should lay charges.

"It's child pornography by any name you want to call it."

'Surprising' reaction

But art market analyst Michael Reid saw the photos before the exhibition was due to open.

He says they do not sexualise the children involved.

"I went and had a very good look at that exhibition before it opened up," Mr Reid said.

"In my opinion it didn't [sexualise the children]."

College of Fine Arts Associate Professor Joanne Mendelsohn thinks the reaction to Henson's work is surprising.

"I remember seeing a major exhibition of his work at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, it might have been his Venice works, about 10 years ago. Not a peep, not a murmur, and yet the work that was shown then is remarkably similar to the work that has caused such an uproar now," she said.

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