Bill Henson debate on Theatre Notes

It is no surprise to those who follow blogs, that here is where some of the most interesting and current public discussions are taking place.

A fine example is Alison Croggan's independent literary blog, Theatre Notes and its coverage of the Bill Henson debate. In essence the debate is about allegations of child pornography against one Australia's most important artists. Alison's blog has largely provided a more balanced set of views than the histeria being reported in the mainstream media and coming out of the mouths of senior politicans in the land.

In May 2008, when the Bill Henson controversy first broke, Alison Croggan was responsible for getting together the Open Letter from members of the Creative Stream of the Australia 2020 Summit in Support of Bill Henson. Cate Blanchett and many others supported the letter which went out to Australian media outlets.

I am interested in this debate as ECU teaches photography and we hold probably one of the most significant photography book collections in Australian libraries. Our collection includes books of Bill Henson's beautiful art photography. We often find ourselves needing to justify collection policy in response to books far more risque than his.

What also interests me, from the point of view of Web2.0 technologies, is how blog debates can unfold, be recorded and organised and easily retrieved later via the blog labels.

You can follow all the Bill Henson posts and comments on Theatre Notes via the Bill Henson subject label.

Now, Bill Henson is in the news again and Alison has posted today on her blog:

"How is it that an internationally acclaimed photographer, who has been making his art for 35 years without a whisper of complaint from any of his collaborators, has become the local equivalent of Gary Glitter? The mere mention of Henson in some quarters now means "paedophile" and "kiddie porn". And yet - even under the glare of this hostile publicity - the images he makes have been passed by authorities as suitable for general viewing"

To appreciate Bill Henson, I can recommend the Tony Wyzenbeek film The Art of Bill Henson, produced in 2003 for ABC TV, which can be purchased at ABC program sales.