Comments on: Sparrow: powerful populism, art and reason collide http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/05/26/sparrow-powerful-populism-art-and-reason-collide/ now with extra source Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:54:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Connor Moran http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/05/26/sparrow-powerful-populism-art-and-reason-collide/#comment-2020 Connor Moran Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-2020 By using the example of Alex Phillips in the USA, Jeff Sparrow accidentally gives rise to one of the main objections to this fiasco. This 12-year-old's consenting parents have lost control of the images of their daughter and they will circulate forever. Was that not foreseeable? What did he tell the parents? What if one day this girl asks her parent's; why did you do that to me? Regret is a terrible thing, a suicidal thing, made especially worse by the accuracy of photography rather than painting or abstraction. More-over photography is not art. I don't see what imagery Henson is contributing that is not already thoroughly explored by other more eminent true artists over the centuries. By using the example of Alex Phillips in the USA, Jeff Sparrow accidentally gives rise to one of the main objections to this fiasco. This 12-year-old’s consenting parents have lost control of the images of their daughter and they will circulate forever. Was that not foreseeable? What did he tell the parents? What if one day this girl asks her parent’s; why did you do that to me? Regret is a terrible thing, a suicidal thing, made especially worse by the accuracy of photography rather than painting or abstraction. More-over photography is not art. I don’t see what imagery Henson is contributing that is not already thoroughly explored by other more eminent true artists over the centuries.

]]> By: Peter Wotton http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/05/26/sparrow-powerful-populism-art-and-reason-collide/#comment-2021 Peter Wotton Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-2021 Hetty Johnson made it clear when she said as reported " they were after all pictures of naked children". Are we to assume from this that she finds the naked body obscene in itself? In that case I wonder when she starts on the National Geographic magazine. Obscenity and nakedness are two different issues. After all, it is possible to be obscene and clothed at the same time . It is also possible to be naked and wholesome. I found it interesting that the Sun Herald last weekend had a picture of federal minister pouring water over a naked baby while all the hoohah on the Henson photos was closer to the front page. Hetty Johnson made it clear when she said as reported ” they were after all pictures of naked children”. Are we to assume from this that she finds the naked body obscene in itself? In that case I wonder when she starts on the National Geographic magazine.

Obscenity and nakedness are two different issues. After all, it is possible to be obscene and clothed at the same time . It is also possible to be naked and wholesome.
I found it interesting that the Sun Herald last weekend had a picture of federal minister pouring water over a naked baby while all the hoohah on the Henson photos was closer to the front page.

]]> By: Mary Ann http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/05/26/sparrow-powerful-populism-art-and-reason-collide/#comment-2022 Mary Ann Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-2022 A naked child is not obscene. The obscenity lays with the intention and means used to display a naked child and the person/s to whom the naked child is displayed. Did the parents of this child consent to photographs of their naked daughter being publicly displayed and why did they do so? Did Mr Henson give any consideration to what could happen to the photographs when they were displayed before the public at large. The child is entitled to protection from images of her naked body being used for lewd purposes and neither Mr Henson nor her parents gave her that protection when the photographs were exposed to public display. A naked child is not obscene. The obscenity lays with the intention and means used to display a naked child and the person/s to whom the naked child is displayed. Did the parents of this child consent to photographs of their naked daughter being publicly displayed and why did they do so? Did Mr Henson give any consideration to what could happen to the photographs when they were displayed before the public at large. The child is entitled to protection from images of her naked body being used for lewd purposes and neither Mr Henson nor her parents gave her that protection when the photographs were exposed to public display.

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