I was one of 26 illustrators/designers worldwide chosen to make a poster for the ‘We <3 NYC’ campaign.
The campaign was launched in Times Square and our posters were displayed in the windows of Macy’s as well as wild posted throughout the boroughs of New York.
My brief was the slightly terrifying yet exhilarating one liner:
The ask is simple, create a poster of how you are re-imagining/interpreting/envisioning NYC.
As a girl from West Cork who had only been to NYC for a weekend with her parents when she was 14, I was unsure of how to create work that would genuinely resonate with the multicultural, eccentric, evolving population of New York. How does one make something that 8,097,282 people (approx) could look at and see themselves and their city reflected back?
I had a very manageable, private obsession with drawing hands but I decided I would hide my passion NO MORE! As an illustrator I feel I can justify the infatuation. I love the story they tell at a glance. Whether they are distractedly picking at their nails, lovingly holding a partner's hand, hurriedly writing a to-do list on their palm or resting their hands calmly on their lap you can really see the characters that exist within the city. I used photos of real New Yorkers hands to create a poster that genuinely reflects the essence of the big apple.
My poster was chosen alongside 25 others worldwide to be displayed around New York Citayyyyyy
the posters were displayed in the windows of Macy’s West 34th Street and Downtown Brooklyn
aaaand wild posted throughout the five boroughs of New York!
The campaign was all over social media and my work was seen across a multitude of articles online.
Maxi McDonnell (another artist and co-worker whose work was also chosen) and I were interviewed by the Irish Times aaaand I had my five minutes of fame on the Ray D’Arcy show on RTÉ Radio 1