An art teacher who fears her job might be at risk because of education cutbacks is getting her work exhibited on the world’s most watched billboard.
A striking picture of a silhouetted woman by Zara McDaid will flash from a screen on Times Square, New York, all day next Monday.
Ms McDaid (26) reckons it is compensation for the tense wait when she expects to hear later this month if she still has her job in Magh Ene College, Bundoran, Co Donegal. She has been told her part-time appointment will have to be reviewed because of cutbacks during the next school year, from September.
Ms McDaid’s work qualified for the unique exhibition when it was first chosen by public votes on social media, then by a panel of judges, to be beamed to up to 500,000 people who pass daily through Times Square.
She stands a chance of scooping a $10,000 prize as well as featuring in a limited edition Art Takes Times Square book to be distributed worldwide.
The exhibition is presented by Times Square Alliance and Chashama, an organisation that supports creativity in New York City. It is backed by the Rockefeller Foundation and the New York City cultural affairs department.