National Portrait Gallery Collection

'Adam', 2014, oil and acrylic on linen, 171cm x 156cm

Adam

‘Adam’ has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.

In 2014, Adam Goodes broke the record for most AFL games played by an Indigenous footballer. This honour was added to a long list of accolades as a dual Brownlow Medallist, dual premiership winner, four-time All-Australian, member of the Indigenous Team of the Century, and Australian representative in the International Rules Series.

Adam Goodes was named 2014 Australian of the Year for his community work through the Go Foundation and advocacy against racism.

I chose to paint a dual portrait to convey the many facets of Adam’s life. I wanted to capture his warm, gentle nature quite separately to the footballer fans see each week. Adam is an amazing athlete but also so much more than that: he is a son, a brother, an extremely proud Indigenous Australian (Adnyamathanha and Narungga on his mother’s side), an active campaigner for constitutional recognition and a great role model in so many ways.

Alan Jones

Link to: National Portrait Gallery

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