Entertainment figures defend controversial Australian art exhibit.

Actress Cate Blanchett has voiced her defense of an artist whose Australian exhibition of nude children has sparked controversy, BBC News reports.

Bill Henson's exhibition was shut down by police and his pictures were seized. Police are considering charging him. The reason for all the controversy is naturally the content of his portraits. Henson’s work features naked 13-year-olds and has been condemned by Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as “revolting.”

However, people in the creative fields have voiced their defense of Henson’s work. Blanchett is one of these people. The actress has stated that she feels the condemning of such art will be dangerous to Australia’s cultural reputation.

“The potential prosecution of one of our most respected artists is no way to build a creative Australia and does untold damage to our cultural reputation,” Blanchett stated in a letter written to Australia's environment minister. The actress also defended the art on the grounds that, “We should remember that an important index of social freedom, in earlier times or in repressive regimes elsewhere in the world, is how artists and art are treated by the state.” Many have also defended Henson’s work based on the fact that it has nothing to do with child pornography.

However, the Australian government has remained unmoved. Rudd insists, “I am passionate about children having innocence in their childhood.” The government has the support of the child advocacy group, the Bravehearts. New South Wales has also had two of its galleries remove Henson’s work.

The artist himself has remained quiet in the midst of all the controversy.