Nude photographs attract interest | Coffs Coast News | Local News in Coffs Coast

THERE'S nothing like a bit of Skin to get tongues wagging and the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery is very thankful for it.

Greig Traynor's photographic exhibition of black and white photographic nudes of local identities is attracting huge interest.

The exhibition is discreetly hung, with curtains dividing it from the other exhibitions in the gallery, preceded by a sign advising people under 18 and those offended by nudity not to enter.

Yesterday visitors were hurrying past the 'G' rated exhibition of landscapes by Leo Robba and Nigel Killalea to peer behind the curtain.

Gallery director Dr Leigh Summers is enjoying the stir the show is creating - but hoping the visitors will also take a look at the landscapes.

“Skin has been a wonderful catalyst to talk about issues of censorship,” she said.

“It has triggered a debate about appropriate and inappropriate images.

“The images are very gentle and definitely not pornographic.

“The curtains add an element of burlesque.”

She said an elderly visitor on the first day the show was open had said 'I think it's a disgrace, I think it's a disgrace you've got a curtain... isn't it time Coffs Harbour grew up?'

An image from Skin reproduced on the front page of The Coffs Coast Advocate last week saw visitor numbers double the following day and Dr Summers said the increased visitation had continued ever since.