Photos of nude kids in an art gallery. Obscene or not?
May 28th, 2008 by Eric Snider in The Morning PapersThere’s an obscenity brouhaha brewing in Australia over a prominent photographer’s use of 12- and 13-year-old models for a series of nude pictures that were hanging in a Sydney gallery until police seized them last week. Authorities are considering initiating an obscenity prosecution against photographer Bill Henson.
The Australian arts community has rallied to his defense. Among others, Cate Blanchett signed an open letter that said, in part, “The work itself is not pornographic, even though it included depictions of naked human beings …”
Here’s a link to the only online image that I could find.
Some of Henson’s backers have claimed that the photos are not sexual. I’m not buying that one. The pic I viewed didn’t do anything for me, but to my eyes it’s clearly sexual.
Is it obscene? I believe in the adage that you know obscene when you see it, and in this case, I do not see obscene. I don’t think Henson, who has shot a lot of stuff other than minors in the buff, should be hauled into court. As far as whether the 20 nudes should be hanging in a Sydney art gallery, I’m not so sure about that one.
But one of my colleagues did make an interesting point: That by seizing the artworks and condemning them, Australian authorities have sensationalized these photos. In effect, they’ve turned them into kiddie porn.
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May 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
So…about the underage kids in the photos…the moment you said something about how it should be taken as art, but maybe it doesn’t belong in a gallery, I had nothing left to bring to the table. The post was definitely thought-provoking, but there was no other conceivable, rational angle to hit that one from. Just add how sexy you thought the kids were and piss a couple moms off whydontcha?
May 30th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Porn and art are in the eye of the beholder, but the question we should ask, is whether the subject consented, or was exploited or abused (regardless of the age).
Pedophiles are perverted by all images of kids, no matter whether dressed or nude, because pedophiles are the problem, not the body beautiful.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:41 am
“I believe in the adage that you know obscene when you see it”
Then you believe in ignorant fantasy and mob lynching, which is exactly what is going on in this case. the fanatic critics are sexualizing an image in order to pretend that minors must never be sexual. George Orwell would have a fine time with all this.