A 14-year-old girl has won the prestigious 'Zurich young portrait prize' for her absolutely incredible portrait of her young sister wearing a facemask. The piece is titled 'Is This Normal?'.
Eva McParland was awarded the overall top prize by the Irish National Gallery. The truly lifelike picture was painted using coloured pencil and evokes a moment in history that no one anywhere in the world will ever forget. So realistic is the portrait that it has even been mistaken for a photograph.
Speaking to the Irish Post, McParland said of her work:
"I love creating art that reflects current events. I hope that through my art I can compel viewers to see these events from a different perspective. In this portrait of my younger sister Ellen, I hope viewers will recognise how children are deeply affected by this pandemic. This will be an experience that stays with them forever. Being isolated from your friends for so long is not healthy. I want people to see this. I also hope to evoke thoughts about normality. Is the mask normal? Is there such a thing as normal?"
She was awarded 500 euros for her win and the picture will now be on display in the gallery.
Eva wasn't the only young Irish artist to win a prize. Other winners included 10-year-old Jiayi Sun, who won the prize in her age category for her portrait titled 'Myself Eating Ice Cream'. Jiayi said:
"I have been learning how to paint for around six years. Although I'm not as excellent as the renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh, I enjoy the pleasure brought by painting, just like them. It also gives me a way of expressing feelings and thoughts towards this world."
An Zili Yang, aged 12, won the age 12 to 15 category for 'A Girl In Silence'. Yang described how her self-portrait was painted from a photograph her mother took of her while sitting in the garden. She said:
"One day when I sat in the back garden and enjoyed freeing my imagination, my mum took a photo of me in that moment. She thought this showed another side of me. I felt that it would be interesting and meaningful to paint this and show the people around me a different me."
One young artist, Conor McPolin, who is aged just 6, won a prize for an abstract work of himself with big hair escaping the coronavirus. He said:
"My name is Conor. I am 6 years old. I made a painting of me with big hair and escaping the coronavirus."
All these portraits are a testament to the talent and skill of the young artists of Ireland and many surely now have a great future ahead of them in the art-world.
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