Australian Story: Sept 23

Olympia Nelson was the subject of national controversy when she was only 11. Now at 16, she tells Australian Story about her objection to teenage ‘selfies’.

Olympia Nelson is just sixteen years old and she recently penned a piece for the Age newspaper that took many of its readers by surprise.

The unsolicited article was about the pitfalls of teenage ‘selfies’ – self portraits posted on social media sites that can linger indefinitely in cyberspace.

Based on the firsthand experiences of her peer group of Melbourne friends, Olympia’s article deconstructed the ‘cult’ of selfies and critiqued the imagery. Much of it, she argued, is hyper-sexualised and time consuming as girls monitor ‘likes’ for their photos. In a later column Olympia explored the phenomenon of ‘sexting’ – the practice of texting suggestive photos to friends that are sometimes forwarded without consent.

Both articles struck a chord with parents and media commentators alike. Many wondered aloud how it was possible for a schoolgirl to articulate so clearly the vexed issues around how young girls can safely explore their sexuality.

Olympia Nelson is no stranger to controversy. An unclothed photograph of her as a six year old on the cover of “Art Monthly” caused a media storm when it landed shortly after artist Bill Henson’s exhibition of naked teenagers caused a censorship furore in 2008.

As an articulate eleven-year-old, she strenuously defended the right of her mother, renowned photographer Polixeni Papapetrou to publish the images in the face of criticism from many, including then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. “Why can’t people cultivate more curiosity for art”, she said later. “It was really sad for me. I was just very disappointed, especially for our Prime Minister.”

Olympia’s mother photographed her daughter for years, exploring notions of a childhood that had passed her by as the child of hard working Greek immigrants. But the body of work created in such an unusual creative partnership now looks to be coming to an end.

In this edition of Australian Story we meet Olympia’s unusual and talented family and learn how years spent as her mother’s muse have equipped her to comment on one of the most conflicted issues of our time – that of sex and self image.

“It was amazing, people all over Australia were commenting on it .” Lily Moore, friend

“I came across the piece at work. One of the team members brought it to me. And she said, you will not believe this, it’s written by a year eleven student and I was completely blown away.” Jamila Rizvi, Managing Editor, Mama Mia.

Monday September 23, at 8pm on ABC1