Tarneit Senior College student Apshita Farah says she felt “overjoyed” to win a youth art competition.
An artwork created by Apshita has received first place in the inaugural Senior Arts Competition run by Tarneit MP Sarah Connolly.
The aim of the competition was for senior students in the Tarneit electorate to create a picture showcasing the theme of community.
As winner of the competition, Apshita’s artwork will be hung in Ms Connolly’s office.
Apshita, 17, will also receive $500 in prize money.
Apshita, who is in year 11, said she created her award-winning picture after her Studio Arts teacher Tim assigned his students to make a piece based upon an influential person, location or object in their lives.
Apshita said that at the time, she had only been living in Tarneit for about five months, so she drew the seven pet fish she had left behind in her home country of Bangladesh.
“I really missed them and hence decided to draw the seven of them in cupped hands,” she said.
“I really liked the fact how my finished artwork coincidentally portrayed the cultural and ethnic diversity of Tarneit.
“The fishes of different colours represented all the various and unique groups of people of Tarneit and the hand cupping the fishes was a portrayal of us all living ‘together’ harmoniously in this beautiful community.”
