Sydney Ideas and Gleebooks present

David Marr
The Henson Case: Art and Panic
Venue: Seymour Centre
6.30pm, Monday 13 October
Bookings: Book Online Box Office: 9351 7940

Only now do we have the opportunity to hear the full story behind the Bill Henson photographs, which grabbed national attention in May 2008 when 20 images were removed from an exhibition and the photographer was investigated for child pornography. David Marr, author of Dark Victory and the award-winning biography Patrick White: A Life, has written The Henson Case, an unflinching examination of the censorship debate, with exclusive interviews with Bill Henson, members of the NSW police force, child abuse campaigners and important figures in the Australian arts scene. It was an unholy mix of politics, the media, the police, the law, arguments about art and porn, about the nature of photography and more. In his lecture for Sydney Ideas David Marr reveals the full story behind the removal of the photos and the people involved.

David Marr is a journalist and author of Dark Victory and the award-winning biography Patrick White: A Life. He was a reporter on the ABC TV program Four Corners, a role in which he won a Walkley Award, and the presenter of Radio National’s Arts Today program. From 2002 to 2004, he hosted the ABC TV program Media Watch and he currently writes for the Sydney Morning Herald.