Portrait of a LADY

In a Marie Claire cover shoot unlike any other, artist Vincent Fantauzzo photographs his wife Asher Keddie at home in isolation. Here, she opens up about falling in love and fighting for herself – and exclusively reveals her biggest project to date.

- Alley Pascoe

Asher Keddie and Vincent Fantauzzo are at home together – in every sense of the phrase. Speaking over Zoom from their kitchen bench in Melbourne’s leafy suburbs, the couple are comfortable and candid, sitting close and finishing each other’s sentences. “I’ve just got to wash my hands,” Fantauzzo shouts from behind the laptop screen.

“He’s got clay all over his hands. That’s nothing new,” explains Keddie, with sunshine streaming into the kitchen from the window behind her. For the past week, the couple have been chasing light around their home, as Fantauzzo photographs his wife for this rather unique marie claire cover shoot. Unlike one of our usual productions, there was no digital operator, bright studio lights, hair and make-up team or a stylist with suitcases full of designer pieces. It was just Fantauzzo, his camera, and Keddie’s natural beauty (plus a couple of cameo appearances from their son Valentino). Having graced our cover in 2017, marking the end of Offspring, and again in 2018, celebrating the smash-hit The Cry, Keddie was more than comfortable taking on the role of creative director, make-up artist and stylist all by herself, selecting outfits from her own wardrobe and new season fashion from Myer (a perk of being the department store’s ambassador).

“We wanted the shoot to be spontaneous and organic, so we shot it over a number of days. Vincent likes to use natural light, so we had to find moments of sunshine in Melbourne’s descending winter,” says Keddie, who has just appeared in the powerful ABC drama Stateless. “When the light was good, I’d put on a bit of make-up and get changed.”