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September 19, 2013
Bill Henson has withdrawn from the 2014 Adelaide Biennial, under pressure from what appears would have become a sustained campaign against his participation in an exhibition of national importance, hosted by our own Art Gallery of South Australia. The work was unseen and none of those crying “exploitation”--including News Ltd--- actually knew what work he would be showing at the biennial.
None of the works , according to the Art Gallery of South Australia, were of children.They consisted of landscapes and doorways!
Richard Avedon, Stephanie Seymour, model, New York City, May 9, 1992, gelatin silver print, printed 1997
Bill Henson has become a lightning rod - a bête noir - for those who are closely involved in the issue of child protection The heated controversy in NSW in 2008, was convincingly shown to be an opportunist one exploited and fanned into hysteria by conservative activists who equate sexuality with pornography.
This public vilification of the artist is also what happened in Adelaide.
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