Abstract
In May 2008, a photograph of a naked twelve-year-old girl by the Australian artist Bill Henson came to the attention of the Australian public when it was featured on an invitation to the opening of an exhibition at a commercial art gallery in Sydney. Within hours, a debate had commenced about the appropriateness of the image and the intentions of the artist. It rapidly descended into the familiar argument of art versus pornography, with protagonists lining up on one side or the other. There seemed no shared space in which to discuss this particular image and instance. Drawing on contributions to this very public debate, I demonstrate the way in which the closed nature of the art system leaves many of its practitioners unable to engage in the wider conversations that occur when artworks travel beyond the credentialling context of the art gallery and enter the public space.
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