Yesterday marked the official opening of Unseen Photo Fair, the Amsterdam festival organised by Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Platform A and Vandejong Creative Agency, with exhibitions, events and awards taking place all over the city. Beginning with a bang, the winner of the ING Unseen Talent Award has been announced, with Luxembourger photographer Sophie Jung receiving a project production fund of €10,000.
The ING Unseen Talent Award is a joint initiative between Dutch financial institution ING and Unseen, providing an international platform for new Belgian, Luxembourg and Dutch photography talent to present their work to an international audience. Jung was chosen from a shortlist of five finalists, who spent the past two months working on a photograph based on the theme ‘Who are we here for?’: Lara Gasparotto, Olya Oleinic, Sébastien Bonin, Sophie Jung and Sjoerd Knibbeler.
The jury was comprised of curatorial professionals from across the industry, including Frits Gierstberg (Curator, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam), Kaat Celis (former Chief of Photography, De Morgen and founder of visual management company Sluitertijd), Sanne ten Brink (Head Curator, ING Collection), Duncan Forbes (Director and Curator, Fotomuseum Winterthur), and Paul di Felice (Co-director and curator of Café Crème edition and European Month of Photography Luxembourg).
As the jury explains, “photography is more and more presented in relation to other media by a new generation of artists. New and unknown possibilities for it are being explored. Sophie Jung has produced work that reminds us of the analogue period in photography. At the same time, by adding media like sound and drawing, she opens up photography’s potentials to work differently on our minds and on our sense of being.”
Find out more information about all the finalists here.