On National TAFE Day 2023, Federal Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O’Connor announced the winner of the inaugural AEU TAFE Photography Competition. The national competition celebrates vocational education with photographic depictions of life on campus. Finalists were selected from each state and territory with Mei Ho from SuniTAFE Mildura winning the overall award.
CIT student Heather Hodgson was the ACT finalist. Her winning photograph is of Grace a fellow CIT student working on her end-of-semester project in the textiles and fashion design workshop at the CIT Reid campus. Asked what inspired her to take this image, Heather said she wanted to find someone on campus doing something interesting, ideallly with a human element that created a connection with the viewer. She said, “I came upon second year textile students working on their final projects…their focus and determination caught my interest as well as their actual projects. I love the dichotomy of young people choosing to learn a skill that may be seen as old fashioned. I love the ‘rare trade’ aspect of textiles – so many people don’t know how to sew anymore – yet these young, trendy students have chosen this path and are creating beautiful things!”
Heather Hodgson at Parliament House with her photograph.