Henson’s artwork classified PG, Hetty hits the roof
June 6, 2008 – 9:38 pm
It’s been a long day (work), so let’s make it quick: The controversial Bill Henson photograph that featured on an invitation to his exhibition has been rated PG by the Classification Board.
David Marr writes that while a minority of the classification board thought the impact of the picture was moderate, none of the classifiers called for any restriction on its display.
NSW police have decided not to lay charges and Henson says he’s reassured the law still allows the expression of ideas.
But Hetty. Not. Happy.
Hetty Johnston from BraveHearts says the images are clearly taken in a ?sexual context” and believes Henson took the photos to satisfy his own purpose, despite the public benefit and the law. She’s got a petition doing the rounds.
While Hetty’s banging her desk with her head over photographs that half of Australia (and now the Classification Board) consider art, I wonder if her organisation and it’s clients are suffering?
3 Responses to “Henson’s artwork classified PG, Hetty hits the roof”
The saddest part of all this is people calling the photo “hideous”. Yeah, great way to bolster the girls self esteem =(
By Tuna on Jun 8, 2008
Hetty Johnston is a pervert. That’s the only conclusion I can make from her insistence that that image is “in a sexual context”.
By Danny Yee on Jun 16, 2008
Just another example of someone who makes first impression decisions and runs with it, regardless of the actual situation. Had hetty seen the photos? No. Did she have any intention to? No. An opinion is an opinion, and I believe in free speech and thought (personally that Henson is not a crazy child pornographer who trawls playgrounds on the prowl for young children to exploit) but this supposedly self sacrificing woman for the KIDS!Dammit! has seen none of the facts, pictures, and is another pathetic example of how hyped our society is by the media and by stupid figure heads like this woman.
Pathetic.
Kevin Rudd, who publicly denounced the gallery and called it “revolting” or something to that effect had not seen the pictures either.
Is context even relevant these days?
By Christabel on Nov 4, 2008