n the midst of the media frenzy over naked children in art, it is perhaps important to consider what we stand to lose if the zealots have their way. Children are to be made to feel ashamed of their bodies. All adults will be presumed to be paedophiles if they look at any images of naked children. Art magazines may lose their funding if they choose a contentious image for the cover, despite the fact that the articles that have been commissioned are by well known and respected art historians and critics, and the illustrative images have been part of the Australian art canon for many years. (Whatever happened to the principle of funding at arms’ length from government?) The law may be changed so that there can be no images made of children at all (up to what age is not clear yet). What happens to those much loved family pictures we all take of kids in the bath is not clear. Artists may be required to seek the permission of an ‘expert panel’ of legal and child abuse experts in order to get a permit to make their art. If the law changes in all states in conformity with Victoria, it may not be possible to photograph children naked at all for any commercial purpose including making artworks for sale.
Not the least of concerns is that the Prime Minister and some other senior politicians have been antagonised and taken positions unsympathetic to art.And this is only one area of debate about public tolerance and its limitations.What about art works which are critical of government or of religion? We, the viewing audience are obviously not to be trusted to make the distinction between images which have a degree of subtlety and irony, that are made to give aesthetic pleasure or cause us to think hard about what we believe, and those which are intended for a quite other purpose to inspire deviant sexual behaviour, incite people to break the law or to sell commercial commodities.
It is becoming scary!
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) maintains that it would be an unforgivable act of censorship to prevent production by artists of and public access to images of children through exhibition and publications. In doing so we would be imposing some sort of misguided Puritanism.
In an effort to try to help everyone to better understand their rights and responsibilities, NAVA had announced that it would include a checklist for artists working with children in the forthcoming third edition of the Code of Practice for the Australian Visual Arts, Craft and Design Sector which sets the best practice standards for the industry. However, the Prime Minister has put out a directive that the Australia Council must develop a set of protocols. NAVA will offer its assistance to the Council and take these protocols into account in relation to what is published in the art industry code.
In addition, NAVA has made public its intention to produce an Art Censorship Guide to assist artists, galleries and funding bodies to deal effectively with controversy and complaints. It is currently assembling the Steering Committee for this project which will begin shortly.
Visual Arts Voice is a column that NAVA writes monthly for artshub.com.au covering issues that are currently happening in the visual arts community.
