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New 'heroes' for a new city in search for The Face of Cardiff?
Second round of voting shows surprising results to date.
The latest figures are in today (Thursday) and make for fascinating reading. Could this be the changing face of Cardiff in the new millennium?
As expected the arts and sport are strongly represented. But the leading artist is not a singer but an actor. And this actor is not a world-renowned star of the big screen or Shakespearean stage, but a television star of a science-fiction spin-off series! 'Torchwood' fans are certainly flexing their muscles and have been voting in such numbers that Gareth David-Lloyd currently leads the polling with just over 21% of the votes.
Fans of all sorts have been turning out in force for their favourites, with Cardiff City FC's fans working especially hard to take Joe Ledley into a very strong fourth place with over 4% of the vote. But they are going to have to rally the lads in order to get him in front of Gareth with only four days to go.
While both early leaders Rhydian Roberts and Brad Voth are still vying for second spot at present, it is another newcomer within sport this time, which has shot to the fore.
Indeed it has left vote organisers at Queens Arcade asking whether Cardiff is blazing a trail; if this is the start of the less traditional sports starting to take a hold in the hearts and minds of Cardiff sports fans. As it is young cyclist, Geraint Thomas who has leapt from nowhere to fourth spot in the voting with 3.8%.
The trio of beautiful singers, Charlotte, Cerys and Katherine still have their supporters but with 1.8%, 1.5% and 0.9% respectively, their fans are going to have to get onto the website and support their girls for them to have any chance of being acclaimed the Face of Cardiff.
The public can continue to vote until 5th October, on the Queens Arcade website www.queensarcarde.info. Voting is free and everyone is urged to have their say.
The Face of Cardiff will be immortalised in a stunning photo-mosaic at Queens Arcade at the end of October. The project was the brainchild of the management team at Queens Arcade which wanted to do something bold and unusual to celebrate the launch of the refurbishment of the Centre.
"We wanted to do something that fired people's imaginations, something they could participate in and came up with the 'I am Art' idea" said Centre Manager, Mark Nott.
"Our photo-mosaic project will make our customers the foundation of the art itself. From a distance the picture will be a striking image of a celebrated contemporary Welsh figure. Then, as you look closer at the picture, you will see the image is made up thousands of photos of our customers, Cardiff's finest!
"We are absolutely amazed with the voting so far. It has been a fascinating contest to watch with the lead switching from Rhydian to Brad, back to Rhydian and now Gareth taking over. We are really looking forward to seeing the final results and to starting work on the art itself."
The photography for the creation of the 'Face of Cardiff' photo-mosaic will take place at Queens Arcade between 16th and 19th October and everyone is urged to come along, join in and become part of Art.