AN IRISH TEENAGER will see his award-winning painting going on show in front of millions of people in Milan.
Still Life by Westmeath student Jesse Byrne won at the Texaco Children’s Art competition in 2009.
Now it has been selected to represent Ireland at the Milan Expo 2015, which is expected to attract more than 20 million visitors.
Jesse Byrne, who is now 15 and getting ready to sit his Junior Certificate at Coláiste Mhuire in Mullingar, said he was “delighted and almost in disbelief” that he was selected to represent Ireland in Milan.
A digital image of Jesse’s award winning painting is one of only two contributions from Ireland on display at the EU Pavilion in Milan.
Byrne was a pupil at St Mary’s CBS in Mullingar when he won first prize in Category D of the 2009 Texaco Children’s Art Competition for his still life painting of a meal on a kitchen table.
The Irish Pavilion in Milan presented a print of the work to EU Parliament Vice President, Mairead McGuinness MEP when she paid an official visit to the Expo today.
There are 145 countries taking part in the Milan Expo. It will run until 31 October under the theme Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.
World Expos take place every five years and lasts up to six months.
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