WISH, by Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada, First Artist in Residence @ Belfast International Festival

For the 2013 Ulster Bank Belfast International Festival at Queen’s, Cuban-American Artist, Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada, has created WISH, a portrait of an anonymous local girl photographed by the artist in the process of making a pure and simple wish for the future. Spanning an 11 acre site in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, the photographic image of this girl - made of topsoil, sand, grass and stones - can be seen from various locations around Belfast. This innovative public artwork pushes boundaries and uses cutting edge technologies, making it one of the most ambitious land art projects in the world. Making WISH was no easy task. With 30,000 wooden stakes, 2,000 tonnes of soil, and 2,000 tonnes of sand, the WISH team had just four weeks to complete one of the largest realistic portraits the world has ever seen. WISH was created by the artist, in partnership with the city of Belfast and its people. It would not have been possible without the hundreds of hours contributed by volunteers - fro