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This is so crazy. This is so bizarre. This is so disgusting. And this is so wrong I hardly know where to start. A man who photographs naked children for a living in the name of art is given permission by a primary school principal to wander around the school yard, incognito, to pick out possible models for his camera. What was the headmaster Sue Knight thinking? 

What was artist Bill Henson thinking as he prowled the grounds of the St. Kilda Primary School. ‘There’s a pretty nine-year-old girl. She’d look good naked.  There’s an innocent looking ten-year-old boy. I could imagine him backlit with no clothes on.’

Any other man, with or without a camera, could be arrested for loitering with intent.

To me this is madness.  In Henson’s own words, to author David Marr, ‘I went in there –just wandered around while everyone was having their lunch. I saw th9is boy, and I saw a girl too, actually, and I thought they would be great. And the principal said ‘fine, I will give the parents a ring and let you know’.

The parents hadn’t been told that an artist who specialised in photos of naked children was conducting a sort of pre-pubescent, mini-meat market in their school grounds.

And this is at a time when parents are being stopped  for even trying to take innocent pictures of their own kids at swimming carnivals.

Don’t let the artsy-fartsy world con you on this one. And make you feel like Philistines or prudes.

There are several big issues at stake. One is the sdafety and the sanctity of the schoolyard. You should be confident that when you send your children off to school they will be protected. It is for good reason that adults cannot wander around schools at will. In this case, for some bizarre reason, Henson had the principal’s permission.

The other issue is the exploitation of children.  The last Henson controversy was earlier this year. A  black and white photo of a 12-year-old girl –naked with growing breasts and hands casually folded over her crotch – was featured on the invitation to a Sydney art gallery event.

As I said then: Some will say it is art. That it is professional expression.Some will protest that the body is beautiful. To display it is natural. But it is also a lucrative business for both the gallery and the cameraman.

I wont argue if an adult woman wants to pose for Playboy or make porno movies..

But this girl, and the boy from St. Kilda were not old enough to understand the full ramifications of what they were unleashing. And to the sicko, psycho, raincoat brigade their innocence and naiveté that makes it even more appealing. What the hell have we come to?

Monday, October 6, 2008

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2008