Matildas fever continues in Canberra with the commissioning of a portrait of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ squad at the National Portrait Gallery.
It will be the first team portrait on display at the Canberra-based gallery.
Featuring all 23 players from the historic squad, the work is being created by acclaimed Sydney-based artist and filmmaker Angela Tiatia.
She is filming each player individually at Matildas training camps in Houston, London and Melbourne for the project.
At the announcement at the gallery on Tuesday 3 June, Tiatia told CD she began the project in mid-February this year with a trip to the team’s hotel in Houston, Texas.
“Their time is so precious that we had 14 athletes in four hours, so I had set up the schedule like a machine,” Tiatia said.
She said each player is being filmed full length, as well as close-ups and extreme close-ups.
“Video portraiture works in the same way as how you would frame a photographic portraiture, the only difference is that it’s moving,” Tiatia said.
“We get to see them like we have never seen them before.
“We get to see the quality of their skin and their pores, and then, how we were able to see goosebumps on their skin as they were watching themselves in playback.
“It works really well to do moving image with the Matildas because they are athletes, so they’re moving all the time and they’re using their bodies. It makes sense to have a medium that captures that quality as well.”
A massive fan of the women’s soccer team, Tiatia was starstruck and lost for words during a Q&A session at the gallery with players Clare Hunt, Clare Wheeler, Courtney Nevin and Teagan Micah.
National Portrait Gallery director Bree Pickering said it was the most ambitious commission to date for the gallery.
“In 2023, the CommBank Matildas changed how we think about and follow professional sport in Australia,” Ms Pickering said.
“The team captured the hearts of die-hard, life-long sports fans and introduced millions of new people to the joy of football and sports fandom.
“This extraordinary group of athletes came together – and brought us with them – in an era-defining campaign that so many Australians will never forget.”
Current Football Australia interim chief executive officer and former Matildas midfielder Heather Garriock said it was emotional.
“We talk about art capturing the heart and mind of people, well, the Matildas in 2023 captured the heart and mind of the nation, and they continue to (do so),” Garriock said.
“As a former Matilda who represented Australia 130 times, it’s a dream come true to see the first team portrait – moving portrait – in the gallery and for Angela to be doing it is unbelievable.”
Newly appointed Matildas head coach Joe Montemurro and former interim coach Tom Sermanni, and former Matildas and current Head of Women’s Football at Football Australia Sarah Walsh, were also in attendance at the announcement.
The 23 players featured in the portrait are:
- Lydia Williams
- Courtney Nevin
- Aivi Luik
- Clare Polkinghorn
- Cortnee Vine
- Clare Wheeler
- Steph Catley
- Alex Chidiac
- Caitlin Foord
- Emily van Egmond
- Mary Fowler
- Teagan Micah
- Tameka Yallop
- Alanna Kennedy
- Clare Hunt
- Hayley Raso
- Kyah Simon
- Mackenzie Arnold
- Katrina Gorry
- Sam Kerr
- Ellie Carpenter
- Charlotte Grant
- Kyra Cooney-Cross
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