After being shortlisted as a finalist for the first edition of the ING Unseen Talent Award, Luxembourgish artist Sophie Jung was yesterday announced as the competition winner.

The selection jury was comprised of a range of professionals from across the photography industry, including Frits Giertsberg, Curator, Nederland Fotomuseum of Rotterdam; Kaat Celis, former Chief of Photography at De Morgen and founder of Visual management company Sluitertijd; Sanne ten Brink, Head Curator of ING Collection; Duncan Forbes, Director and Curator at Fotomuseum Winterthur; and Paul di Felice, Co-Director and Curator of Café Creme edition and European Month of Photography Luxembourg.

The jury selected Sophie Jung as the winner of the inaugural edition of the ING Unseen Talent Award for her artistic response to this year's theme of 'Who Are We Here For?'. The Award aims to provide an international platform to showcase the talents of new Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg photographers and Sophie was chosen as one of five finalists by ING Art Management and Unseen.

A separate award of the Public Prize was received by Belgian Lara Gasparotto, who was selected through an online voting system earlier in the month. Lara will receive a commission to create new work for the ING Collection, with the work of all the finalists to be exhibited at Neumünster Abbey in spring 2016.

The jury was reportedly impressed by the creative powers and quality manifested by the artists despite the abstract nature of the theme and the limited time frame available. After careful deliberation, the jury were unanimous in their appreciation of Sophie Jung's work which was seen to challenge perceived understanding of photography's past and future.

"Photography is more and more presented in relation to other media by a new generation of artists," was the comment of the jury. "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".

Photos by ING