Nan Goldin photo cleared

The image, which showed two young girls playing naked, was shown as part of Nan Goldin's Thanksgiving collection, but was seized during the first day of the exhibition at the Baltic Gallery in Gateshead for potentially breaking Child Pornography laws.

Sir Elton John, owner of the collection, made the decision to close the exhibition following the seizure, which was due to go on until 20th January 2008. He defended the image, commenting that "The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world."

Crown Prosecution Services have now come to the conclusion that the image is not in any way indecent, the same conclusion that was reached after the image was seized from an exhibition six years previous.

The Baltic Gallery, who were said to be sympathetic of Elton John's decision to close the exhibition, said in a statement issued last week: "We are pleased that this matter has now been resolved. We endeavoured to cooperate with the authorities throughout, but at the same time are very disappointed that this incident necessitated the early closure of an important exhibition."