and paintings. I have modeled for him both clothed and fully nude, both alone and with other children.... The portrait which the United States has charged as indecent is a portrait of me as I was eight years ago. I am not acting in a sexual way in the picture and Graham never asked me to sexual or treated me as a sexual object. The accusation that the image is "obscene" is, to me, an accusation that I am 'obscene,' something to which I take offense. A. D. Coleman's prepared statement noted the many artistic qualities of the image which were inconsistent with their being labelled "lascivious." Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union's ACLU Foundation Arts Censorship Project were also in court to offer their brief, which was joined by artists, art critics, administrators and organisations, in opposition to the government's attempt to censor States of Grace. As to the image on page 54, the ACLU brief stated: "[W]hether viewed individually or as part of the entire book, Ovenden's portrait appears plainly to be a photograph with genuine artistic, not pornographic, intentions, and thus a constitutionally-protected work of art." Ovenden himself attested in writing as follows: "Symbolically speaking, we are dealing with feelings of the heart and the human yearning for Edenic simplicity – a state of grace, as it were, where there is neither sin nor corruption. The apple has yet to be eaten. The subject, of course, symbolizes this state in the photograph. At the same time, we see that the attainment of Eden is no easy task: the vulnerability of the child suggests, or rather confirms, the fragility of Eden, as well as its fleeting nature in the face of the concerns of the adult world and the demands of modernity." Ultimately, no testimony was required at the 28 May 1992 hearing. In the face of the subject's account of her experience of being photographed by Ovenden, the statements proffered by Ovenden and Coleman, and the support of the ACLU and others, the government acknowledged defeat and returned the photograph and the proofs. Two months later the book was imported into the United States. On 21 May 1998, censors in New Zealand classified States of Grace as UNRESTRICTED, meaning that it was deemed suitable for all audiences. A document containing the classification, Classified books from 1963 to 31 July 2009 is available online from the New