Clearly
Kevin Rudd is not one of these people, and perhaps I was naive to be surprised by his ridiculous response. The ingratiating stupidity of Brendan Nelson goes without saying. (I dreamt of Brendan Nelson last night, as it happens. He was doing price checks at the supermarket, and he was very sweaty from running around and being told what to do.)
Clearly Poussin wasn't a pornographer or a child molester because he painted the Massacre of the Innocents, nor a rapist because he painted The Rape of the Sabine, not to mention any number of other artists who have chosen similar subjects over the centuries.
The Bill Henson retrospective a couple of years ago should have been proof enough of Henson's worth and legitimacy as an artist. His vision has consistently explored the gothic underworld beneath the surface of the everyday, a theatrical, at times disturbing shadowland at the edge of suburbia, steeped in art historical references, where subconscious desires, the illicit, the brooding, the mythical and the dreamed of, meet at the boundaries of consciousness, of society. And none of this is to mention how breath-takingly beautiful these images are.
I am ashamed that certain well meaning but hysterically reactionary individuals, who suppose that nudity necessarily equals pornography, are taken so seriously in 21st century Australia.
An excellent
summary can be found at
Sydney Arts Journalist who has compiled the list of responses which can be found at the bottom of this post.
Thank god also for Alison Croggon, a tireless advocate of good work, both political and artistic, who has put together
this open letter of support for Bill Henson on behalf of the 2020 arts guys. I feel such gratitudue that this has been put to the public, having felt otherwise pretty powerless, especially in the face of commercial news reports.
Robert Nelson in
The AgeA furore has ensued over this censorship, as this Melbourne artist is one of Australia's foremost photographers, with international standing. Cases of censorship are damaging to a country's cultural reputation overseas; because a nation that values free speech must also protect artistic freedom.
Clive Hamilton in
CrikeyIf we lived in a society of sophisticated people with mature s-xuality, one that respected children and the integrity of their maturation process, then there could be no objection to the Henson exhibition.
Melbourne Arts and Culture CriticThe last time that NSW Police were stupid enough to venture into art censorship in 1982, was also at Roslyn Oxley Gallery. Then they fueled the career of painter Juan Davila. I don’t know what they hope to achieve this time as Bill Henson’s career is well established, but the price of his photographs is sure to rise with the increased controversy.
Chris Merritt in
The AustralianIf the case goes ahead, the defence would need to show the photographs had been produced and used for a genuine artistic purpose - the same argument used in the Oz trial in London in the 1971. Mr Simpson said it would be relevant that the photographs were part of an exhibit at an art gallery and had not been displayed in one of the main streets of Sydney. Other photographs by Bill Henson are on display at the High Court in Canberra and at the Art Gallery of NSW.
Chris Boyd in
The Morning AfterThe bastille has been stormed by those who vociferously deny that context counts here. That an image in an art gallery -- or in your family photo album -- is identical to that same image if it were printed in a magazine to advertise clothes or posted on a porn site.
