Making judgments: the artist and the lawyer

The Supreme Court Library, Queensland, is pairing contemporary artists with legal mentors to explore notions of judgment under the law.
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Detail of Michael Cook, ‘Majority Rule (Senate)’ #2014-0151; supplied

Australia has seen several recent cases where an artist has faced the prickly side of the law.

Most famous in recent years was Bill Henson’s photograph of a young girl seized from the Sydney gallery Roslyn Oxley9 in 2008. Polixeni Papapetrou faced a legal battle over a photograph of her daughter on the cover of Art Month Australia magazine (2003), while Melbourne artist Paul Yore’s installation at Linden Centre for Contemporary Art (2013), was deemed too explicit, and placed him in front of the courts. 

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina