4 May, 2012
Eastbourne’s Towner is inviting everyone to contribute to a giant portrait of the queen by taking part in a free drop-in event on Saturday 5 May. People of all ages can come along and have fun with photos, adding their images to the final portrait which will be entirely made up of thousands of faces of people from the South East. The photomosaic is the brainchild of BBC South East Today, who have commissioned the artwork in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee.
The contemporary art museum is asking people to bring their family photographs along to scan and transform. You can also pose for a photo as a royal subject, or even create your own photomosaic.
The artist behind the Jubilee artwork, Helen Marshall, will be on hand to help you transform your images. Helen is an experienced photomosaic artist and has previously worked on the largest photomosaic in the world. All photos will become part of the finished project, unless you request otherwise.
This free drop-in event runs from 11am to 3pm and families should bring in their own photographs, or a CD containing at least 250 images if they would like to make a photomosaic – and watch them transform before your eyes!
The family day is open to all ages, however if you can’t make it on the day you are still able to submit your photos to be part of The People’s Monarch artwork via the BBC website.
Eastbourne Borough Council Cabinet Member for Tourism, Cllr Neil Stanley said “We are delighted that Towner in Eastbourne has been chosen to be the home for such a fantastic project. It’s a great opportunity for thousands of people to get involved in a very special Diamond Jubilee celebration and the family day allows people to go along with their own photos and get an idea of how magnificent the final portrait is going to be.”
At least 4,000 images will be needed for the photomosaic of the Queen. The photos can be portraits, family photos, shots of people in front of their favourite South East landmark, people in their garden or on a fairground ride – anything at all as long as it shows local faces.
The pictures can be black and white or colour, recent or old, and the finished work will be approximately 10m x 5m – around the size of a double decker bus.
The People’s Monarch will be unveiled on BBC South East on 25 May. Make sure you come back to Towner to see yourself in this giant artwork which you will be able to view for free until 10 June.
Gillian Clarkson from Towner said: “It’s really exciting for us. One of the things we are all about at Towner is participation. Often when you walk into this gallery you’ll see work made by schoolchildren or an exhibition by a community group alongside international exhibitions. But this project, with an artwork that’s made up of and involves thousands of people is going to be the biggest public participation project that we’ve ever worked on.”
For more information on Towner and The People’s Monarch go to the Towner website. Or to be part of the artwork, submit your photos on the BBC South East website and follow the instructions.
