Vic 'porn' artwork used real children
An artist accused of using child pornography in a Melbourne art installation damaged the reputations of the children depicted, a court has heard.
Paul Yore, 26, of Footscray, has pleaded not guilty to producing and possessing child pornography over an installation that included images of nude adults with children's faces attached.
Acting Sergeant Kirei Wall told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that although police had not determined who the children were, it was clear their rights had been impinged.
"I ask your honour to consider the reaction of these children," she told the magistrate on Tuesday.
"Placing these children, cutting out their photographs, encroaches on the rights and the reputations of children."
The work, titled "Everything is F***ed", was on display at St Kilda's Linden Centre for Contemporary Art last year.
Defence barrister Neil Clelland said the work was not child pornography, but a legitimate form of art.
"You might not like the art, you might find it offensive," he said.
"(But) it is not being used for the purposes of sexual gratification or prurient motives. It is artistic expression."
National Gallery of Victoria senior curator of contemporary art Max Delany told the court that Yore was a talented, serious and accomplished artist.
He said the installation had a number of different interpretations, but said the work certainly had artistic merit.
"It could be considered a critique of the commercialisation of teen sexuality," Mr Delaney told the court.
Mr Delany said the images of nude bodies were made to seem unnatural and rhetorical.
Magistrate Amanda Chambers reserved her decision until October 1.
