More Image Hysteria

5/07/2012

Headteacher reports artist mother to police for pictures of her son

""My son's headteacher called the police in 2010 to my son's primary school, after seeing pictures of my son on my website. I had had a performance at the Courtauld Institute and my son's teacher missed it so I gave her a video of myself and my son. My son's class viewed it, I got good feedback from the teacher, and I heard nothing else about it until almost a year later. The headteacher had a look at my video and then started looking at my website. It was never made clear why she started searching on my website; she said she had concerns and had a right to act on them.

She told me that she was alarmed at a picture on my site of him in the bathtub, all typical Sally Man/mother-photography, etc. type work. Actually he had a Halloween mask on, and while there were other photos of him on my site, and you could assume it was him, his face was unidentifiable and she didn't know for sure. After consulting the school governor she rang the police - who said nothing was wrong with the images on my site (ie, no porn) - but they then had an obligation to call social services."

http://www.manifestoclub.com/node/943

5/07/2012

Child photography banned at National Trust for Scotland site

""I recently visited J.M. Barrie’s birthplace home in Kirriemuir, Angus, a building run by the National Trust for Scotland, holding a camera. I was expressly told, as I purchased tickets, that I must not use my camera to photograph children. Mention was made of both child protection and data protection legislation, and also of the possibility of tracing women in refuges via possible posting on social networking sites."

http://www.manifestoclub.com/node/944