The Ballarat International Foto Biennale presents the GradFoto 2023 exhibition, showcasing twenty-one finalists from ten universities across Australia and for the first time, New Zealand. This award celebrates the artistic excellence of graduating students, open to emerging contemporary artists and graduating students from selected Australian institutions whose artistic practice uses photography as its primary medium.

International judge, Virginia Woods-Jack, selected 21 finalists from entries spanning 18 tertiary institutions across Australia and New Zealand.

The $1000 prize was awarded to graduate Zina Sofer from RMIT University Victoria, for their series Out of the Shadows, 2023.

Virginia Woods-Jack: ‘Out of the Shadows” is a captivating and beautifully executed project that pays tribute to this impactful organisation, the individual women, and the skills they employed to secure better futures for themselves and their families outside of the patriarchy in post-war Australia. The project is exquisitely presented in a refined, accessible, and highly skilled manner, and I am excited to see where your continued academic journey takes you next. Congratulations!’

About the winning entry

Out of the Shadows – The Forgotten History of the War Widows’ Guild of Australia.

A large housing estate in Elsternwick is facing demolition to make room for luxury units. This estate was built in the 1950s specifically for the war widows and their families by the War Widows’ Guild of Australia. At the height of its heyday, the Guild was involved in advocacy, education, support, counselling, and housing for widows. The capital for purchasing real-estate and built communal housing came from the growing membership base, some funding from the government but mainly from the sales generated by the woven goods made by the women. Weaving was a lifeline, it supplemented widows’ unlivable pension, and it played one of the major roles in establishing weaving as an industry in Australia. My curiosity led me to the discovery of one of the most powerful women’s blocs in Australian post-WWII History, the War Widows’ Guild of Australia and its founder and president Mrs. Jessie Mary Vasey O.B.E and C.B.E.