A Sydney exhibition featuring photographs of naked 12 and 13 year olds has been shut down as police investigate its legality.
The exhibition, by Australian photographer Bill Henson, was scheduled to open at 6pm (AEST) on Thursday at Roslyn Oxley9 gallery in Paddington, in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
It includes large photographic prints of topless children, one of which was included on the opening night invitation.
The images angered a child protection group, which labelled them child pornography, but artists and gallery patrons view the shutdown as "censorship" of genuine art.
Public pressure forced the gallery to cancel the opening just before it was due to begin, but police later said the exhibition would remain closed to allow an investigation.
They want to speak with a girl featured in the photos before making a decision on whether it will go ahead.
Specialist child exploitation detectives have also referred the gallery's website, which also featured images from the exhibition, to the nation's media watchdog.
"Police have spoken to the photographer and gallery owners," Rose Bay police Superintendent Allan Sicard told reporters outside the gallery.
"As a result of this conversation, all parties have agreed the exhibition will be temporarily closed to allow further inquiries to be made.
"These inquiries include speaking to the subject of these photos and her parents.
"Once these inquiries have been made, a decision will be made on the future of the exhibition.
"Meanwhile, child exploitation internet detectives are reviewing the content of the gallery's website and have referred the matters to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)."
A spokeswoman for the gallery told AAP it was hoped the exhibition would go ahead.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion," she said.
"It is a beautiful show."
However, Hetty Johnston, founder and executive director of Bravehearts, a child sexual assault action group, called for Mr Henson and the gallery to be prosecuted.
"It's child exploitation, it's criminal activity and it should be prosecuted, both the photographer Bill Henson ... but also the gallery because these are clearly images that are sexually exploiting young children," Ms Johnston said.
"They are clearly illegal child pornography images. It's not about art at all. It's a crime and I hope they are prosecuted."
Ann Elias, a senior art lecturer at the University of Sydney, was among those arriving at the venue to find it closed.
"It's another infringement of the freedom of expression and it's just not acceptable," she said, labelling the cancellation a disgrace.
Another gallery patron, Stephen Graham, said he felt uncomfortable with the adult portrayal of children but denied the exhibition should be shut down.
"This is artistic censorship," he said.
"It's the magazines and advertisers that they should be targeting."
ACMA earlier confirmed it was acting on a formal complaint about the content of the gallery's website.
"We have received a complaint and we have commenced an investigation," ACMA media manager Donald Robertson said.
Mr Robertson said it appeared website was hosted overseas, making it more difficult to order the images be removed.
However, late on Thursday the images had been removed from the website and the site had crashed.
Democrats leader Lyn Allison instigated a Senate inquiry into the sexualisation of children in the media which is due to report next month.
"I think it is shocking and confronting, but I am torn on this I have to say because I was an art teacher and I am very reluctant to want to censor what artists do and a lot of artists do want to be confronting, to raise issues, and in some ways, this does that," Senator Allison told Macquarie Radio.
She said they were beautiful photographs "if you take away the content".
Earlier this month, there was community outrage following the publication of images showing a topless 16-year-old model sharing a bath with a 15-year-old male model in Russh Australia magazine.
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