Her Majesty’s barren honours

If writers, and creative artists in general, needed confirmation of the nation’s tenuous regard for their contribution, they got it in various forms last month. Most egregious of these was the controversy surrounding Bill Henson’s recent exhibition in Sydney and his use of adolescent models. Mayhem of a kind we haven’t seen in decades ensued, none of it edifying. Much of this was predictable: the reflexive tactics of anti-pornography campaigners, the febrile provocations of some Sydney broadcasters, the facile editorialising from newspapers whose websites resemble lurid peep-shows. More depressing and unexpected was the readiness of politicians (including the prime minister), many of them unfamiliar with Henson’s art, to deride the work of one of Australia’s most distinguished photographers; and the wider public ignorance about artistic intent that was revealed, even gloried in, along the way.