Exploiting Children for Art

An Australian artist is at risk of being prosecuted over photographic works depicting children as young as 12 - 13 in semi-nude poses.  His exhibition no sooner opened recently than the Australian Federal Police closed it down, seized his works and commenced an investigation of the situation with a view to charging him.

What I find interesting is that a number of prominent Australian figures have come out in his support.  Their reasoning:  they don't want Australia's cultural reputation to be devalued!  (See link.)  I wonder where the "privilege" of art stops and the laws that apply to everyone else start.  If it's OK to exploit children for the sake of art by photographing them semi-nude and then letting the general public gawk at them, would it be OK to emblazon them with tattoos and photograph them?  Would it be OK to carve artistic images in their skin with a knife?  Would it be OK to photograph dead children?  The reasoning of those in support can't be given any credibility and I'm surprised that such prominent figures would want to be connected with this kind of work in any way. 

The law has deemed children younger than 16 or 17 (depending on which State we're talking about) to be too young to be able to consent to sex acts.  The reason for this is their sexual vulnerability during their young teen years.  Even if they think they are consenting to sex, there are so many factors involved, especially when the other party is an adult, that the law has decided the matter once and for all.  So what is so different from photographing young children and then displaying them for the world to see?  How can a child of 12 or 13 consent to this?  Even if their identities are protected, it makes no difference in my view.  Their bodies are still on show for others to see and someone else has decided that this constitutes "art".  There are 2 worrying things about this:  one is that someone could think of the idea in the first place and have no internal indicator that tells him it's not an appropriate expression of his artistic creativity.  The other is that there are people who would find this "art" interesting or palatable and not detestable.

I'm afraid I don't care about the reputation of Australia's art industry when it impinges on the welfare of children.  I fully support the actions of the Australian Federal Police and am thankful that we have a police force with a clear view of what's appropriate and what's not when children's welfare is concerned.

Saving the World

Having a young child is taxing of time, energy and creativity.  That's no startling new information but lately I've been wondering how I can be a bit more outward focused rather than being totally consumed by motherhood.  Admittedly, I do have to fight a belief that I should be trying single-handedly to save the world, but even so I felt I could be doing a bit more than I currently am with my resources.  My noble thoughts had drawn a blank and I was feeling a little bit despondent until Saturday.  Cassie, my daughter, and I went to a birthday party.  It was for a little chap we didn't know that well but we'd been invited, the house wasn't far away and I thought we'd go.  In fact I did prevaricate because his Mum had told us that she expected about 27 children to turn up and the image I had of complete chaos was a bit daunting.  Nevertheless I thought we'd turn up and if there were the expected 27 kids and chaos was ruling, we could stay a short time and then go home again.  So I bought him a present and a card, dressed Cassie up in her party dress and off we went.

As it turned out, there were not 27 children there; there were 4 including Cassie.  One of those was the party boy, another was his sister.  His Mum was over the moon that we came.  I didn't have to leap a tall building or ride off on a daring steed, I simply needed to turn up to a local kid's birthday party to make a difference to someone else's day.

Of course it doesn't stop there but it's good to be reminded that making a difference doesn't necessarily mean a huge expenditure of time and energy.  

It's been a while

Wow, it's a while since I last posted anything.  Since then we have moved back to Australia from Malawi.  Hang on a minute, since then I've become a mother AND moved back to Australia from Malawi.  Not to Perth, where our "home" is, but to north-eastern Australia; to a remote mining town called Mount Isa.  It's very different from living in Malawi - the power works, the phone works, the internet works (most of the time) and so far no one has asked me for money.  It's a nice change for now and our 16 month old daughter is enjoying all the local activities.  It's still a distance from family and friends but we're closer than we were and the phone calls are a lot cheaper.  How long we'll stay here we're not sure but for now it's home.