During his (2005) Retrospective at the NGV, I met his Melbourne representative. She walked me through the gallery which exhibited his latest work. Pointing to a portrait of a freckled girl with sad eyes and pouting lips, she declared “This is his new model… isn’t she sublime!”. Then a group of school children marched through the gallery… part of their government funded “art education”.
When speaking to Henson some years back at a Gareth Sansom exhibition, I asked where he finds his models— Paris mostly, he replied.My decision to write a thesis on “the sexualisation of children in art” was motivated mostly by Henson’s photographs of children. Either he’s a pervert–an issues the art world have been tippy-toeing around for years, or he’s using children for its very effective, media grabbing “shock value”.
I do admire his photographs. His Paris Opera series, his crowds, even some portraits, I think some are magnificent. His brooding landscapes are moving and poetic. But his nude children—well, their nude children.



1. Henson’s photographs, 2. random porn site photo, 3. porn image Photo shopped
Take away the back lighting and dark backdrops of his night scenes, we can easily compare the images with those found on a cheap porn-site (see my Photoshop example above).
I guess portraying naked, seductive girls on the brink of puberty was OK in the sixteenth century, but today, it’s obscene–in legal terms at least. Contemporary art tries feverously to push limits, searching for the most shocking, wrong, or ugly. Henson’s photographs have been pushing the limits of Australia’s obscenity and child pornography for years— Whilst at the same time, he’s represented Australia at the 46th Venice Biennale, our National galleries, publish three photographic books… putting Australian art on the map. The question perplexing everyone is “why now?”.
Is it the Emperor’s new cloak?…. That if the national Gallery says it’s art, then it’s art. If it sells for tens of thousands of dollars, then it’s art. But when the PM and Federal Police claim that “the Emperor is in fact naked” … well, it’s still art. Even better, it’s controversial art… more exposure for the artist, more money for the galleries.