A Hounslow barmaid is set to be immortalised in a time capsule for 200 years.

Polish-born Joanna Szymaszek, 24, was selected from thousands to be one of the 100 women whose secrets, passions and fears will be sealed in the capsule.

Artist Mol Smith has embarked on the two-year art project, designed to celebrate womanhood, which combines digital technology to create pictures set in a fantasy world and a selection of letters from the women.

Miss Szymaszek, who lives with her boyfriend Adam Radon in Cambridge Close and works at Carvossos in Chiswick, said she was shocked when she found out she had won a place in the capsule.

She said: “I was completely surprised when I heard I had a place because I have not been modelling for long at all. The thought of being immortalised was very appealing. In 200 years I can’t imagine what the world, or women, will be like.

“All I hope is that the world is better, with less troubles. We were asked to write a letter to the future about ourselves and share things we have not told anyone.”

As well as letters, the women will give samples of their perfume, hair, dress jewellery, family photos and letters to their future kin. It will all be sealed in a large stainless steel vault, the location of which has yet to be decided, designed to last 200 years.

The vault will be sealed within a stone monument to be located in a small memorial-fashioned garden, constructed on land being specially purchased for the project.

Miss Szymaszek, who refused to divulge what she wrote to the future, said: “This whole experience is really exciting for me, to be plucked from a barmaid to be a model in the future is great. Although I have no idea what the future will be like, the people in the future will know me.”