Ms Elenberg, now a 34-year-old mother, and another woman who once posed for Henson's dark and evocative photographs, yesterday came forward to offer a spirited defence of the artist, whose works were seized in Sydney last week.

"Bill asked my mother at an exhibition opening if I would like to pose for him and we talked about it and decided to do it," Ms Elenberg, who did not pose nude, said.

"We went to this old building in Melbourne. It was quite dark, but I never felt uncomfortable. Bill made you feel incredibly safe and calm. I never felt that I wasn't in control."

National Gallery of Victoria chairman Allan Myers yesterday also came to Henson's defence, saying the furore over the internationally acclaimed artist's images depicting naked children reflected Australia's intolerance of artistic expression.

"I just think it reflects the general immaturity of our society that the coppers go blundering into an art gallery and start grabbing what are indubitably works of art on the grounds that someone has been 'disgusted'," said Mr Myers, a leading lawyer and art collector.

Mr Myers, who stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity, said the right of people including the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader to be disturbed by Henson's work had nothing to do with what should determine rules of freedom of expression.

"But I don't think Australia has been very tolerant of artistic expression — ever. I don't think things have got worse, they are still bad," he said.

The issue of whether the Melbourne-based artist's depictions of children and youth are "art" or "porn" has polarised the community since Sydney police seized 20 of Henson's images, featuring a naked girl and boy said to be aged 12 and 13. Charges are being considered.

Another mother, Joelle Baudet, who posed naked for Henson as a 24-year-old, said she was approached by the photographer at a gallery opening in the mid-1990s.

"The experience was enlightening … His work is sublime and only a warped mind could associate it with such crassness. My children and I enjoy seeing his photographs daily in our home."

Child advocates insist the images sexualise children and say no one could "consent" to them. Retired family court judge John Fogarty said the images he had seen were "shocking", while the chief executive of the Child Wise group, Bernadette McMenamin, said she was concerned about how "consent" had been obtained.

"It is clear from the UN convention on the rights of the child that parents do not have the right to make that decision on behalf of their children," Ms McMenamin said.

Hetty Johnson, of the group Bravehearts, who appears to have lodged the complaint that resulted in the police raid, said the community outrage was "a message to the arts world to be responsible, not to be selfish around this".

Federal Families Minister Jenny Macklin said she disagreed with the photographs, but she also did not agree with "the way in which children are being bombarded in many other places".