POLICE say they expect to lay charges after seizing more than 20 photographs from a controversial exhibition in Sydney that features images of naked 12- and 13-year-old girls.
Rose Bay Local Area Commander Allan Sicard said NSW Police expected to prosecute over the images by artist Bill Henson, which were to go on display at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington last night.
The exhibition was shut down just before it was due to open.
"Police are investigating this matter and it is likely that we will proceed to prosecution on the offence of publish an indecent article under the Crimes Act," he said, but would not specify who was likely to be charged.
Last night Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called the images "revolting", while Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said they "violate Australian values".
Henson and the gallery have defended the work as art. "Bill Henson is one of Australia's leading contemporary artists and is internationally respected," they said.
"His works are held in every leading art institution in Australia and are included in the collections of a number of the world's most prestigious art museums."
'Inviolate'
Earlier, Henson defended his work as seeking to explore "something which is absolutely inviolate and unknowable". He told The Australian: "You can't control the way individuals respond to the work."
Mr Rudd has said the images have no artistic value. "Kids deserve to have the innocence of their childhood protected," he said on Channel 9.
"Whatever the artistic view of the merits of that sort of stuff - frankly I don't think there are any - just allow kids to be kids."
Dr Nelson said: "This photographic exhibition, from what I have seen and what I have been advised, violates the things for which we stand as Australians and indeed as parents."
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Art experts said the critics need to take another look at the works.
Judy Annear curated a exhibition of Henson's work at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2005-2005 which was seen by 65,000 people. She said there was not a single complaint.
"Bill's work isn't the problem here, it's just a convenient kind of whipping boy. I couldn't work with Bill if I thought he was abusing children," she said.
The Roslyn Oxley9 gallery's manager Amanda Rowell called him a "master". "It has never been like this before. This is no different to any other exhibition he's had and he's had many exhibitions here," she said.
"He's a master, there's no one in the world like him."
- Daily Telegraph, The Australian, AAP
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The Rosley Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney, Australia was raided by police over the weekend following complaints of child pornography. The complaints related to an exhibition of works by photographer Bill Henson, which included several photographs of naked pubescent children. Twenty-one of the forty photographs in the exhibition were seized during the raid, and police have announced that charges will be laid under the NSW Commonwealth and Crimes Act for "publishing an indecent article". Digital versions have also been removed from the Gallery's website.


Politicians on both sides of the fence spoke out against the exhibition. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, speaking to the Nine Network, said he found the photos to be "absolutely revolting ... Whatever the artistic view of the merits of that sort of stuff - frankly I don't think there are any - just allow kids to be kids." His Opposition counterpart, Brendan Nelson, believes that the exhibition "violates the things for which we stand as Australians and indeed as parents".

Art experts have supported Henson and defended his work, denying claims of child pornography and exploitation. According to Betty Churcher, a former director of the National Gallery of Australia, "there is absolutely no suggestion of pornography in these photographs". Sydney art dealer Denis Savill hung one of Henson's works, featuring two nudes, in his gallery window beside an Arthur Boyd nude, to "give them something to grizzle about".

According to Tony Oxley, husband of gallery owner Roslyn, the gallery's answering machine has recorded several threats to burn the building down. The police action also calls into question the fate of similar works by Henson in other galleries in Australia and around the world.