I'd like you to paint my portrait

Phil Vincent is 56 years of age and has lived with cerebral palsy since birth.  He has little use of his right arm and walks with incredible difficulty. “As a young child, I was called names,” he says. “I found this hurtful especially when I was called a ‘spastic.’  It made me feel as though I was different and not like other people.  In addition, people would sometimes stare and make remarks about my walking.”

The third of six children and the only sibling to suffer the disability, Phil says his parents were determined to give him every opportunity to have a proper education and were against the suggestion to place him in a workshop after he finished at D’Alton (Special School, as it was called in those days) in Hobart.  “Instead, I went to St. Virgil’s College for my secondary education,” he says. “I was treated well by students and teachers.  The one concession I was allowed was to leave five minutes early at the end of the day.  This was to avoid being knocked over by the students in the rush to get home!”

Phil Vincent has worked for the Australian Taxation Office in Hobart for more than 25 years, after initially studying to be a Catholic priest in Melbourne, the first person with a disability from Hobart to be accepted for such studies. He is an avid Essendon supporter and it was a friend’s suggestion that he look at a portrait of former Essendon great, James Hird, by Melbourne-based artist, Martin Tighe, that led Phil to contact Tighe and commission the artist to paint his portrait.

“My disability caused me to have a very poor self-image for many years, which eventually led to severe depression,” Vincent states.  “A friend of mine had read the article on Martin’s Tom Wills exhibition last October and sent me Martin’s web link.  He told me to make special note of the James Hird portrait. I was impressed with how well the portrait had captured James in action."  

"I’ve wanted to have my portrait done for many years now," Vincent emphasises, "so I took the opportunity of emailing Martin. It was the idea of nothing ventured, nothing gained. I told Martin I was a person with a disability and I wanted to challenge the concept of what defines the body beautiful. Not to be controversial but simply to say I’m a person with a disability and I’m OK with who I am.”

For Martin Tighe, an artist who delights in the macabre this was a rare challenge. In the past he has themed an exhibition of paintings around the famed disappearance of a group of young girls at Hanging Rock, as well as a series of paintings based on the life of the last person to be executed by the State, Ronald Ryan. “The character of Tom Wills interested me because he’s one of Australia’s tragic figures who stumbled over many of the obstacles which life presents”, says Tighe, “and I feel I do my best work in relation to a tragic story. Tom Wills was a man of vision and energy but the hook for me for the paintings was his tragic demise.”

Tighe describes his portrait of James Hird in a similar manner.  “It is a sombre painting,” he states.  “There is no distinction between the black of his Essendon guernsey and the black background, they merge into each other.  It’s a sombre image of someone who’s taking a pounding on a football field.  While he is six feet two and can take a great mark, his physique is quite light so he was certainly an attractive subject to paint.”

Tighe accepted the commission to paint Phil Vincent’s portrait based on telephone conversations between the two and some black and white photographs Vincent sent him.  It wasn’t until the two men met that Tighe actually realised the extent of the disability Vincent possessed.  “When Phil is walking his disability is much more obvious.  When he’s moving he becomes quite hunched over and it’s difficult for him,” Tighe states. “The person who walked through my front door was even more energetic than the person I’d been speaking with on the phone.  I was a little uncomfortable in how much of Phil’s disability I should portray, but I knew it had to be a very very strong likeness.”

Tighe need not have worried. “I was amazed at how well Martin has captured me,” Phil Vincent states upon viewing the completed portrait. “I use a walking stick to get around. And, as you can see in the portrait I’m holding my famous red cap (everyone who knows me will recognise that). Each time I look at the painting I discover something new. My initial reaction was that I thought my expression in the portrait was a little severe.  But now I’m comfortable with that.  And I don’t normally wear short sleeves, but the day Martin took the photographs to base the portrait on was particularly warm.  So that has worked to advantage as well in showing my affected arm.”

All images copyright Martin Tighe.

Full version of interview available below.