Blanchett's Plea To Prime Minister Over Australian Exhibit

Actress CATE BLANCHETT has signed an open letter to Australian Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD - urging him not to censor a controversial photography exhibition.

Police in Sydney, Australia, shut down an exhibition of photographs by respected artist Bill Henson last week (beg19May08) because the show featured naked pictures of 12 and 13-year-old children.

The move has sparked a heated debate in the country over the line between art and pornography.

And Blanchett has come to the defence of the exhibition, insisting Rudd should not block Henson's work.

The letter reads: "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.

"We wish to make absolutely clear that none of us endorses, in any way, the abuse of children. Henson's work has nothing to do with child pornography and, according to the judgment of some of the most respected curators and critics in the world, it is certainly art."