One of Ireland’s top artists is looking for volunteers to help create an iconic artwork for display within the Swords Cultural Quarter.
John Byrne wants people to send him selfies of themselves if they are willing for their image to be immortalised on a giant billboard-style sculpture.
He has been commissioned by Fingal County Council and is planning to create a large-scale photographic image, featuring a cross-section of people in Fingal, which will be printed and fired onto steel panels.
The image will reference two well-known historical European paintings, for which Byrne will cast a broad range of Fingal residents.
They will be immortalised in the artwork, essentially engaged in a ‘tug of war’ between the two paintings, representing the ‘pull’ between rural and urban life in the county and beyond.
The artist is asking members of the public to send him a photograph of themselves along with details of their age and height and their email and phone contact details.
The photographs and other details required should be sent to [email protected] by February 21.
Cllr Paul Donnelly, chair of the community development, heritage, culture and creativity strategic policy committee, said: “This is a unique opportunity for citizens from all over Fingal to get involved in a major arts project, and those who are eventually chosen by the artist will be immortalised in an iconic artwork.”
Those selected to take part in the shoot in mid-July will be styled and posed to fit his overall vision of the work, which will be permanently displayed in the new Swords Cultural Quarter.
