A Footscray artist has been charged with producing and possessing child pornography over artwork seized from a St Kilda gallery in June.
Paul Yore, 25, was charged on Friday over a collage titled Everything is F—ed that allegedly included a cut-out of a child with Justin Bieber’s head above a urinating dildo.
The works were on display at the Linden Centre for Contemporary
Arts as part of a tribute to controversial Australian artist Mike Brown.
Arts Law Centre of Australia executive director Robyn Ayres said the
charges were disturbing as they put freedom of expression on trial.
“When you charge an artist with this sort of offence you are in
effect taking away their freedom to comment on society,” she said.
Ms Ayres said the case was complicated because
although the artwork did not contain sexually explicit images of a
child, the law related to whether the images were the “depiction of a
person”.
“For genuine artists children have almost become a no-go zone,
which is bizarre when you look at the history of the arts.” The
police art seizure was the first in Australia since the removal of Bill
Henson photos from a Sydney gallery in 2008 over the stylised depiction
of naked children.
The charges carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison and
inclusion on the sex offender register. Yore will face court in
November.
