bluephinIs "For Art's Sake" A Good Excuse To Photograph Kids Naked?
July 9th 2008 03:42
A child should be personified with an image of innocence, play and purity. But what happens when a child’s naked body is photographed, printed and displayed in an art gallery? Is it child abuse or not?
This has been the case of a hot news in Australia as of current.
Photos of then 6 year-old Olympia Nelson has been exposed to the public when it was used on the front cover of Art Month Australia magazine which was sold in Bathurst for the past week. Turns out, this was not the first time the photos were displayed for the public eye. According to Richard Perram, director of Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, this photo is just one f the many works of Polixeni Papapetrou which has been displayed in galleries around the country and internationally.
This post is not all about the details of the news or to condemn the artist and the parents of the children who posed naked for these photographers. This post is all about a conscience and reality check.
A street poll conducted by Western Advocate exhibited a variety of comments and reactions among respondents. Some abhor such act while others say that the issue has been taken too far and exaggerated.
Looks like the parents have consent on photographing their daughter when it happened and when interviewed, the now almost-teenager Olympia doesn’t see anything bad with what she did and couldn’t understand all the fuss.
Is it really a case of sex or child abuse? Is there a law written against such circumstances? Is the phrase “for art’s sake” or “it’s done in an artistic manner” an excuse to photograph young innocent bodies in their naked state and flaunt them in art galleries for the whole world to see?
While you are reading this post and you are a parent yourself, would you allow your child no matter how young they are to pose naked for somebody else? Is it not enough for artist and photographers to have mature individuals consenting on posing for them? Do we really think that these kids know what they are doing or the implications this would have on their life? Or are they right to think that this is a case of exaggeration and that we are already in the 21st century? Should we be opening our mind on something like this and take it as what other people see it – as just art?!
Personally, I would not take my hand and serve a guilty verdict over the artist and the parents just because I don’t know what the real score is. But never in my own wildest dreams would I allow any of my kids to go through such tormenting circumstances just for art’s sake.
How about you? What do you think?
You can visit the following sites to read the whole story:
Story From Bathurst.YourGuide.Com.Au
Story from Herald Sun
Story from ABC.Net.Au
This has been the case of a hot news in Australia as of current.
Photos of then 6 year-old Olympia Nelson has been exposed to the public when it was used on the front cover of Art Month Australia magazine which was sold in Bathurst for the past week. Turns out, this was not the first time the photos were displayed for the public eye. According to Richard Perram, director of Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, this photo is just one f the many works of Polixeni Papapetrou which has been displayed in galleries around the country and internationally.
Actual Photo of Olympia From abc.net.au
This post is not all about the details of the news or to condemn the artist and the parents of the children who posed naked for these photographers. This post is all about a conscience and reality check.
A street poll conducted by Western Advocate exhibited a variety of comments and reactions among respondents. Some abhor such act while others say that the issue has been taken too far and exaggerated.
Looks like the parents have consent on photographing their daughter when it happened and when interviewed, the now almost-teenager Olympia doesn’t see anything bad with what she did and couldn’t understand all the fuss.
Is it really a case of sex or child abuse? Is there a law written against such circumstances? Is the phrase “for art’s sake” or “it’s done in an artistic manner” an excuse to photograph young innocent bodies in their naked state and flaunt them in art galleries for the whole world to see?
While you are reading this post and you are a parent yourself, would you allow your child no matter how young they are to pose naked for somebody else? Is it not enough for artist and photographers to have mature individuals consenting on posing for them? Do we really think that these kids know what they are doing or the implications this would have on their life? Or are they right to think that this is a case of exaggeration and that we are already in the 21st century? Should we be opening our mind on something like this and take it as what other people see it – as just art?!
Personally, I would not take my hand and serve a guilty verdict over the artist and the parents just because I don’t know what the real score is. But never in my own wildest dreams would I allow any of my kids to go through such tormenting circumstances just for art’s sake.
How about you? What do you think?
You can visit the following sites to read the whole story:
Story From Bathurst.YourGuide.Com.Au
Story from Herald Sun
Story from ABC.Net.Au
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Comment by Joanne Fedler
Jo