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VCE Studio Arts: Bill Henson

Books in the Fisher Library

Biography, Exhibition & Bibliography from Tolarno Galleries Website

Education Kits from the NSW Art Gallery

The education kits below (in pdf format) highlight key works, ideas and themes from the Bill Henson Exhibition  held at the Art Gallery of NSW & National Gallery of Victoria in 2005. Click here to see  a selection of images of Henson's works at the NSW Gallery website.

Bill Henson - Early Work from the MGA

Education resources to support the travelling exhibition.

ClickView Video - Obsessions: the Art of Bill Henson

"Distinguished Australian photographic artist Bill Henson allows TV cameras into his life. Set within desolate landscapes, his work continues to polarise the art world".
26 min.
To view the video within the school click on the image above. From outside the school click on the ClickView- Multimedia Resources tab on the Library Webopac. Login with your GGS username and password. Enter the film's title into the My Library searchbox. (You may be prompted to download Silverlight.)

YouTube Video: "Bill Henson art.after"

NSW Art Gallery. Celebrity talk. Bill Henson in association with Printmaking in the age of Romanticism, 9 September 2009.

26 minutes.

ABC Video: Bill Henson in Conversation

Renowned photographer Bill Henson talks to musician and festival director Paul Grabowsky about his influences and how he creates his extraordinary images.

Presented by Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia in association with the 2012 Adelaide Festival.

From The ABC Splash website.

Images from Bill Henson Exhibition at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

Newspaper Article re 'Cloud Landscapes' at Art Gallery of NSW

ANZ Reference Centre (GGS subscription database)

Search this database to find newspaper articles and magazine articles about Bill Henson.

Bill Henson & the Censorship Debate

Art work being seized from gallery

On 22 May 2008, the opening night of Henson's 2007-2008 exhibition at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington, Sydney, was cancelled.  
Hetty Johnston, a child protection campaigner, had lodged a complaint with the New South Wales police about the exhibition, which was to include images of naked adolescents. Henson was to be charged with 'publishing an indecent article'. Police raids at other galleries followed and his works were seized.  He was not charged but the issue played out in the media for several months and generated much debate about art and censorship.

The content in the boxes below relate to this debate. 

ISSUES - Echo Online - GGS Subscription Database

 

The  Echo Online database includes a comprehensive debate of the issues involved: including background information and  links to websites and newpaper articles from 2008. A videoclip from the ABC's 7.30 Report is also included.

The password for access to the database outside the school is on Blackboard>Learning tab.

Books in the Fisher Library

YouTube Video: Julian Burnside on Bill Henson

In June 2008 the Museum of Contemporary Art held a two hour discussion regarding the art work of Bill Henson. These are the introductory comments by Julian Burnside QC.

YouTube Video: Clive Hamilton and David Marr on Bill Henson

Extract from the Bill Henson Art Censorship Debate in 2008 Clive Hamilton and David Marr discuss points of difference regarding matters of censorship. Clive in his prepared speech noted :"There is no censorship worth noting in Australia" and then raises the issue of the censorship laws in this country, but although he considers that Bill Henson's images weren't pornographic he decries the fact they were mailed out and posted on the Internet. David Marr points out that the censorship system which Clive acknowledges exists rated them PG which means that anyone can view them whatever the medium.

This short extract is taken from the 2 hour Art Censorship debate 12th June 2008:-

Art Censorship: The Bigger Picture (Australian Broadcasting Corporation )