London
(ANI):
Sir
Elton
John
has
confirmed
that
he
is
the
owner
of
the
picture
seized
by
police
in
a
child
porn
inquiry.
However,
he
insisted
that
the
picture
had
been
'widely
published
and
exhibited
throughout
the
world" without
objection.
The
controversy
began
a
couple
of
days
ago
when
officers
from
Northumbria
Police
took
the
picture
away
after
being
called
in
by
the
management
of
the
Baltic
Centre
for
Contemporary
Art
in
Gateshead,
Tyneside,
just
hours
before
it
was
due
to
go
on
display.
On
his
official
website,
Sir
Elton
John
says
that
this
would
not
have
been
the
first
time
that
people
would
have
seen
the
picture
by
Nan
Goldin,
which
depicts
two
young
girls
playing
together
in
front
of
a
kitchen
sink.
One
is
skimpily
dressed,
the
other
is
naked
and
lies
beneath
her,
knees
bent
and
legs
splayed
towards
the
camera.
“The
photograph
entitled
Klara
and
Edda
belly-dancing
(1998)
is
one
of
149
images
comprising
the
Thanksgiving
installation
by
renowned
US
photographer
Nan
Goldin,"
Times
Online
quotes
Sir
Elton,
as
saying
on
his
website.
“The
photograph
exists
as
part
of
the
installation
as
a
whole
and
has
been
widely
published
and
exhibited
throughout
the
world.
It
can
be
found
in
the
monograph
of
Ms
Goldin"s
works
entitled
The
Devil"s
Playground,
has
been
offered
for
sale
at
Sotheby"s
New
York
in
2002
and
2004,
and
has
previously
been
exhibited
in
Houston,
London,
Madrid,
New
York,
Portugal,
Warsaw
and
Zurich
without
any
objections
of
which
we
are
aware."
Honey
Luard,
of
the
White
Cube
where
the
Thanksgiving
collection
was
first
displayed
in
1999,
said:
“The
image
would
have
been
part
of
our
show.
To
my
memory
there
was
no
outcry
at
the
time.
Nobody
objected
to
the
picture.
Nan
Goldin
is
internationally
acclaimed,
a
highly
respected
artist."