Sione Tuipulotu, the first Scot to score a Lions Test try since Alan Tait in 1997, said of Tom Curry after last weekend’s 27- 19 British & Irish Lions win over Australia, “I always look at him and he always looks so sore when he’s running around, he always looks in pain but he just keeps going. Testament to him.”
Congratulations to Tom Curry on his critic silencing epic performance, playing for 58 minutes being subbed off. I took Tom’s portrait a few years ago as part of a project about inclusivity in rugby union; if you look at his right eye you’ll see blood leaking into it from an injury sustained playing for England vs France three months earlier in that years 6 Nations.
I took Tom’s portrait along with portraits of his club team, the English Premiership side Sale Sharks, who were supporting local grass roots club Manchester Village Spartans. Fitting the photography around a rugby training session I knew that time with the individual players would be limited, so my direction to each of them was this, “What does rugby mean to you? Is it a try you scored, is it a try saving tackle you made? Please close your eyes, have a think of that moment, and when you’re ready, open your eyes.”
When taking the portraits, some players grinned at me (mainly the backs), some players gave me very serious looks (mainly the forwards); this was Tom’s expression, which was neither of the two. The emotion I see when I look at this portrait is pain, so Tuipulotu’s opening quote and observation that Tom ‘always looks in pain’ is something that resonates with me.
