Bill Henson will learn this week whether NSW police will press charges over his photography of a 13-year-old girl posing nude. 

Portrayed as the “controversial artist” by mainstream media, Henson enjoys wide support from the art community, who believe the police’s actions in seizing up to 21 photographs from the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington herald a "dark day" for Australian culture. 

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the works as "revolting" and devoid of artistic merit. 

Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett has written to the Prime Minister and Premier of New South Wales Morris Iemma urging them to reconsider their statements and offering her support for Henson. 

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance director Simon Whipp said: "Parents are not often in this area the best people to make the decision. Often the parents are seeking to promote the children.”

Mr Whipp said the debate over the seized images should focus on whether a 13-year-old was able to give informed consent. "It's not the parents in 10 or 20 years' time to suffer the potential emotional damage," he said.

Police say if charges are laid they will come under both the NSW and Commonwealth Crimes acts for publishing an indecent article. Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has said that should the pictures be republished online, then this could constitute a federal crime.

Artist Martin Sharp, who was famously tried in the 1960s for obscenity over an article he published in Oz Magazine, was on the guest list for Henson’s exhibition. 

He told reporters that the image of the topless 13-year-old girl was “powerful”. “I would call it very beautiful in its vulnerability rather than ‘revolting’ as the Prime Minister has done,” Sharp said. Sharp believes that the photograph suggests the girl “gave her trust to Henson… and this trust has been violated by the police and Kevin Rudd’s comments.”

Merge says - What do the editors think?

Merge's cover-our-arse disclaimer: The image appearing at the top of this article is Untitled # 20 (2000-3) by Bill Henson, and is not one of the controversial series discussed.