AMSTERDAM.- ING and Unseen announced that Jaakko Kahilaniemi (1989, Finland), has won the ING Unseen Talent Award Jury Prize with Nature Like Capital, and will receive € 10,000 to invest in a new project. Alexey Shlyk (1986, Belarus), has won the Public Prize and will receive a commission to create new work for the ING Collection. The ING Unseen Talent Award is an initiative of ING and Unseen and was created to provide exceptional European photography talent with a platform to present work on an international level. The winners were announced by Erik Van Den Eynden (CEO, ING Belgium) on the 20th of September at the opening of Unseen Amsterdam 2018.

The winners of the ING Unseen Talent Award were chosen from a group of five finalists. In addition to Jaakko Kahilaniemi and Alexey Shlyk, Dávid Biró (1992, Hungary), Pauline Niks (1982, The Netherlands) and Eva O’Leary (1989, Ireland) were also part of the shortlist. The finalists were selected earlier this year by ING Art Management and Unseen from a selection of artists compiled by experts from the new European platform for upcoming photography talent, Futures.

Under the guidance of the internationally renowned installation artist, filmmaker and photographer Isaac Julien CBE (1960, GB), the five finalists created new work this summer for the ING Collection in accordance with this year’s theme, New Horizons: Exploring the promise and perils of the future. The results will be exhibited from 21-23 September during Unseen Amsterdam 2018.

Erik Van Den Eynden (CEO, ING Belgium): “I’m excited to see how these young talents reflected in such a surprising way on this year’s theme New Horizons: Exploring the promise and perils of the future. I’m inspired by the visions of the future displayed by the photographers.”

The Jury Prize winner of the ING Unseen Talent Award 2018 was selected by an international professional jury consisting of Chris Bedson (Senior Art Director, Calvin Klein), Emma Bowkett (Director of Photography, FT Weekend Magazine), Sanne ten Brink (Chief Curator, ING Collection), Florian Ebner (Chief of Photography, Centre Pompidou) and Fiona Tan (renowned visual artist and filmmaker).

From the jury report: ‘After much discussion we collectively selected Jaakko Kahilaniemi as the Jury Prize winner for the ING Unseen Talent Award 2018. Embracing the theme for this year, we were impressed by his intriguing presentation which effectively communicated ideas around man’s complex relationship with nature. In tackling one of the most important political themes of our time, we found his work Nature Like Capital to be a multi-layered approach, influenced by land art tradition and an exploration of photographic form within a personal narrative context’.

The Public Prize winner of the ING Unseen Talent Award 2018 was selected by an online vote.