Monday, July 7, 2008

Storm in a tea cup?

Looks like the whole 'child exploitation versus art' debate is back in the limelight thanks to an apparently controversial picture of a naked child on the cover of Art Monthly Magazine. The picture was taken several years ago by a female photographer of her then six year old daughter (now 11) and has been exhibited previously. Where was the outcry then? I do wonder if we'd be having this same debate in countries that have a much more comfortable (and less sexualised) view of nudity than our own. Take Finland as an example where mums, dads and kids would often have saunas together as a family...naked. Imagine the outcry if that were to happen here. I think this debate exposes as much about the way we sexualise nudity as it does about what constitutes art, consent and the rights of the child against sexual exploitation.

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