Protecting art for art’s sake
Gerard Vaughan, Herald Sun, Melbourne, 8 July 2008, p.19
The controversy surrounding Bill Henson's depiction of nude teenagers in his photographic art began as a reaction to the image of a 13-year-old printed on the invitation to his commercial exhibition at the Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery in Sydney. Within days - encouraged by the ill-judged comments of some senior public figures in NSW and the ACT - we observed the depressing spectacle of police raids on public galleries there, and the removal from public view of works by Bill Henson.