France News

Cate Blanchett defends Bill Henson’s nude children portraits

Friday, 30 May 2008

Cate Blanchett defends Bill Henson’s nude children portraits

Actress Cate Blanchett has come to the defence of Bill Henson whose portraits of nude children have been at the centre of a row over censorship in Australia.

Police closed 52-year-old Bill Henson's exhibition, seized images and are considering pressing charges against the photographic artist.

His pictures of naked 13-year-olds, were heavily criticised by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who said the artwork was "revolting".

Police closed the exhibition, held at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney, before it even opened last week because there had been complaints about photos of nude 12 and 13-year-old boys and girls.

Cate Blanchett, however, as well as 42 other well-known celebrities from the world of the arts, have claimed in an open letter to Australia's environment minister and the premier of New South Wales state, that Australia's cultural reputation could be jeopardised by this move.

Two other galleries have also removed Henson’s work from displays.

Comment on this article

Leave your comments (Show/Hide Form)

Other Visitors Comments

Name: e

Comment:
I too am glad at least some people with influence are arguing on Bill's side. Simply being without clothes seems to be enough to deem photos as pornography in today's world.
It is outrageous. If one looks at Bill Henson's gallery in question and see's sex, that is a personal problem, not one with the photos. I didn't see the images as very sexualised at all.
We are living in very twisted times if we judge all nudity as indecent.

Rated Article:

Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

Name: PETER G MACKIE

Comment:
I am glad to see that, for once, someone is standing up for what is natural. The people who say that these photographs are "sexualising" children are doing exactly that themselves by confusing art with pornography. I just hope that all this moral paranoia will not create a generation of repressed neurotics and one wonders how many paedeophiles themselves may have grown up having such repressed attitudes forced on them by a sick society.

Rated Article:

Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; (R1 1.1); .NET CLR 2.0.50727)

Name: Gregory Carlin	Comment: I was one of the campaigners in the UK who lobbied for the SOA 2003, one of the reasons was people like Bill Henson. If he did that in London, he'd be running the risk of prison. It is absolutely illegal to publish that kind of material in Britain, it's child pornography.
Rated Article:

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 04 June 2008 )

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

Hotel Search

Cheap Hotels in France

Sponsored

Search

Featured Property

Featured Businesses

Fashion News