Should We Protect or Deride Artistic Freedoms?

Controversial as it may be, with accusations of ‘child pornography’ and criminal charges about to be laid, Bill Henson’s latest art exhibition has caused a whirlwind of hullabaloo in political, legal and artistic circles.

In an era of sexualised children and constant government enquiries into becoming a nation of thoroughly bred moral crusaders, the media, police, and politicians have hounded Henson like a pack of hyenas.

Critics and blogosphere’s alike have wanted to give their two cents on the controversy, more specifically regarding Kevin Rudd’s reaction: that of deeming the photographs ‘revolting’. As an ‘intellect’ many were expecting Rudd to understand the artistic and creative beauty behind the piece. What many were failing to realise however, was the practicality and logic behind his denouncement.

Children as young as 12 are being exhibited in these photographs. It would only be common sense to realise that the Prime Minister of the country has no alternative than to condemn the exhibition of unclothed children. With the recent government emphasis on 'letting kids be kids,' and enquiries into the sexualisation of children in the media and society, Rudd has no alternative but to condemn for the sake of consistency. The papers would have a field trip otherwise.

The greater predicament lies in using ‘art’ as a common veil and disguise: hiding the lewd and controversial under the pretence of art.

Giving this the green flag and essentially giving someone license to publish/disseminate whatever they see fit with a label of ‘creative freedom’ is a misused and exploited concept and wrongly so.

It’s only expected that something so readily accessible to the public should come under fire when it offends the sensibilities of society. An unequivocally lawless approach cannot be adopted in terms of art and creativity.

Intellectual and artistic freedoms weigh into the discussion in the examination of freedom of expression and censorship. In a democratic and liberal society, which exceeds the other? Protecting the subject matter when the government/police see it as essential, or freedom to express ideas and concepts which fall within the creative model?

Always difficult to ascertain, general moral standards shouldn’t be traversed for the sake of unreservedly administering a standard of freedoms. However Henson is being utilised as a scapegoat and criminal proceedings are exerting a rule of extremity.

Most people purporting critical views are missing the point. The deeming of it as ‘pornographic’ has offended the artistic sensibilities amongst us.

We all accept that Bill Henson most likely had no intention of producing these photographs for pornographic intentions. This isn’t an issue of adding to the collections of paedophiles across the nation.

What people fail to realise, is that by granting exemptions, a standard is set thereby increasing the general tolerability. When you legalise something, the law is telling society it’s acceptable and okay.

If Henson’s artworks are classified as suitable because it’s stored under the pretence of ‘art’, then it’s being validating and deemed okay in the name of creativity and intellectual/artistic freedom. The problem then lies in that in granting it some acceptance, it may validate child pornography in the minds of those with such tendencies.

Some restrictions are necessary. A blank cheque can’t be provided to every domain to reign free.

Pornography or art. Thoughts?


Photo: ABC TV

Have you Met Miss Coles?

Meet the graduate project of Melanie Coles – a tall, lean figure wearing red-and-white striped beanie that matches a red-and-white striped jumper. It’s Wally, from Where’s Wally – only he’s 16.45 metres long, and he’s lying on a rooftop somewhere in Vancouver, waiting for someone to find him on Google Earth.

Coles, a 22-year-old media arts student in her last year at a well-respected art school in Vancouver, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, laughs as she tells the story of his conception. “I was just joking away on the phone with my friend when I came up with it. We just laughed it off.”

Indeed, most people would dismiss the idea of creating a gigantic Wally. Coles, however, is also the sort of person who can take a seemingly ridiculous idea, and make it work. What’s more, she makes it work well. Her grade for the project was an A, and media attention has been received from all over the world, from the US to Belgium and from Brazil to Portugal. Wally has been discussed on blogs around the world as well, and her own blog about the project receives over 13, 000 hits each day.

Coles takes to fame well. During our phone conversation, she’s friendly, sweet and endearingly open. “I didn’t think that people would blog about it.” She pauses and giggles. “It’s kinda nerdy.”

Hailing from the small town of Oliver in British Columbia, Canada, Coles grew up in a tight, close-knit family. Her father was a schoolteacher, while her mother stayed at home to look after Coles and her older sister, and would spend each summer baking pies, says Coles.

It sounds pretty idyllic. “It was! I’m was really lucky, I had such a positive childhood.”

So perhaps it’s no surprise that most of her artworks reflect a desire to return to childhood, or even yesteryear. A recent exhibition of hers was described as follows: “The work of Melanie Coles is lovely and smart. It brings back the past and inspires the child in you to get out the glue stick and make a fantasy world from clippings.”

“I guess I am really nostalgic,” she says in a slightly doubtful manner, as if the idea has never occurred to her. But she warms into it. “I’m into images of Americana from, like, the 1930’s to the 1980’s, and also pop culture.”

“But I also do a lot of appropriation, like I take things that already exist and put them with something else, or put them in a situation that might not necessarily exist.”

Like Wally? “Yeah, like taking Wally out of context.”

It’s clear that her giant Wally is a subject dear to her heart. Less than a minute into our phone conversation, she’s describing the process of researching Wally, her graduate project, and her round Canadian vowels becoming more pronounced as her enthusiasm begins to show.

“From about October, I had to go through the logistics. The first thing was figuring out where to put Wally, then testing the materials. It had to be thicker than paper since who knows when Google will take a snapshot? But then it couldn’t be sheets either because we’re in Vancouver, it’s really wet and the sheets would become see-through. Then if we used vinyl the paint might drip off so we went to a discount store and had to find vinyl that was porous.”

“She has the kind of infectious enthusiasm and a leadership style that made it possible for her to get a whole bunch of friends to turn up on a freezing, classical "dark and stormy night" to borrow sand from the beach,” her friend and classmate Nancy Strider said.

Coles explains. “I got all my friends together, because Wally needed to be weighed down, and we went to the beach on a stormy night and filled up some sandbags.”

Fortunately, Coles doesn’t mind storms. Nor does she scare easily. Forced to hire a studio to paint Wally in due to his size, the only place cheap enough was in East Hastings, an area of Vancouver where used condoms and syringes lie scattered on the footpaths and where the HIV infection rate is one of the highest in the Western world. “It’s actually one of the worst neighbourhoods in Canada and I don’t really like it, but the studio was only $100 a month!”

So where is Wally now? “My roof is slanted, so Wally’s actually lying on the rooftop of my part-time job,” she giggles.

“It’s an innovative and creative idea that we all enjoy at the store,” says her co-worker, Johnny Payne, at Zulu Records Store. “She’s one of our favourite employees. I’m a big Waldo fan, and I’m 100 per cent behind her, everyone is. She’s a really smart and creative person – I thought [Wally] would take a lot of work, but she totally got it down exactly how she wanted to.”

Well she’s worked hard at it. Not many people would want to do what is technically homework on the weekends, but Coles did. And as she says, “It’d be the best story to tell – ‘What did you do on the weekend?’ ‘Oh, I painted a giant Waldo.” She laughs.

All this work has paid off and Wally fans from around the world have inundated her with praises and adoration. But Coles, it seems, takes it with the attitude of a girl who still can’t believe her luck. Nancy Strider says, “We were walking home at midnight on the seawall after the school closed, and I pulled out my voice recorder and asked her how it all felt. She talked about how up till a couple of days before she would have been happy with 20 hits, and that now she had gotten 10,000 in a single day. I asked her how that felt, and she said, ‘It's hilarious!’”

Many thanks to Henry Ngo for finding the subject.

Pic: supplied by subject