When asked, the Gucci Mama said she would have no hesitation in allowing Bill Henson to photograph her eight-year-old son (seen above, photographed by me, New Year's Eve 2007). And this is the woman who won't allow photographs of children in underwear in the catalogues of the retail giant she runs. Even thinking twice about toddlers in swimsuits.
What is happening in my country? I leave it alone for ten days, and it gets itself into trouble. More here.
If you are unfamiliar with Bill Henson's work, putting his name into google images will give you a quick overview.
Let's hear the man himself on the subject: Henson told the Herald "there is always something being boiled up. George Steiner once said that the media's only job is to create and maintain a state of emergency. About what," he added, laughing, "it doesn't matter."
My own 'thoughts' are rather feelings. Anger, outrage, revolt. And, horribly, dismay. I have made no secret of my pash on Kevin Rudd, our Prime Minister. I knew in my heart that the honeymoon would not last. But I didn't think it would end quite so soon. And in such a distressing way.
Take a little mind balm from Annabel Crabb for soothment.
I only wish that this incident had somehow involved chanteuse Natalie Imbruglia so I could have entitled this post Imbruglia Imbroglio.
I am still jetlagged. But then again, I have been mainlining sugar all morning.
13 comments:
I like yours better
I was going to blog on it, but I decided it would be a rant. And I made a promise to myself a while back that if I was going to do rants, I'd attempt to make them amusing. I decided I couldn't do that with the Bill Henson catastrophe.
The whole thing is a reflection of a much greater problem, of course - that of the imposition of uneducated, illiterate, ill-considered minority morals on the greater population by loud voices fuelled by tiny (and one must contemplater 'grubby') minds.
I've seen pornography. I don't see anything like it in Henson's beautiful work.
malach; You need to see Henson's works in real life. They are sublime and moving, beautiful works. (But thanks for your fandom!)
anaglyph: Yes, I had hoped you would blog on this as I feel utterly unable to articulate how appalling this is. I've made numerous drafts over the last few days,, and nearly didn't post on it at all.
The Gucci Mama and I were saying - it is the viewer who sexualises works like these. So 'grubby' is the right word indeed.
Worth a thousand words...
Link to interesting video about Bill Henson's photographic work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaEi9ESRB8o
Mmmmmm, sugar.
Thanks, anonymous. Good text, but I could have done with fewer lilting gondolas!
Here is Henson talking with Leo Schofield.
A.Man: Sweet seductress, evil genie, secret lover ....
You & Gucci Mama nailed it. It's others perverted minds that twist the art.
Well, yes, this is stupid, but please forgive me for submitting SMUT.
I would have expected something like that from George the Bush.
I've never heard of him, but the lighting of his photos is great. I don't see it as porn, either. I think he's quite good.
cuntie: How right you are (to agree with us). I knew you were a smarty-pants (just like me).
colonel: Q: How much to we love Tom Lehrer? A: An awful lot.
mike: Imagine for yourself my tears of rage and betrayal, that it was young Tintin and not the Desiccated Coconut who spoke thus - "revolting". Oh rage! Oh betrayal!
At.Cer: The works are big. Being in the room with them, their power is almost visceral. His series on the Opera is extraordinary. (He photographed audiences at the opera, then set up tableaux in his studio modeled on those images.)
Here is Alex Mitchell writing in Crickey! Some of the comments are ... um ... well, you decide. I particularly appreciate the number who proudly claim never to have seen any of Henson's works, and some, even prouderly, never to have heard of him.
So today the charges against Bill Henson have been dropped. The Classification Board considers that the nudity in the works is "mild and justified by context" and "not sexualised to any degree".
I'm finding it hard to jump for joy, though I am very glad for Henson & the Roslyn Oxley Gallery that they are not to face charges.
Small minds and small morals. They have a way of sneaking in and fucking things up everywhere. Good news about the charges being dropped though.
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