Eva van Kampen Franco (School for Young Talent) winner Photo contest Rijksmuseum 2025

4 June 2025

News exhibition

Eva van Kampen Franco from the School for Young Talent is one of the ten winners of the Photo contest 2025 of the Rijksmuseum. Her work can be seen from 1 November 2025 to 11 January 2026 at the Rijksmuseum.

The Rijksmuseum organises a photo competition every year especially for secondary school and vocational students in both the Netherlands and the Caribbean. They received a total of 82 impressive entries, of which the top 10 will hang in the museum. The students will be invited to take part in a series of masterclasses led by photographer Tina Farifteh and experts from the Rijksmuseum. Together, they’ll work towards creating their own exhibition in the museum, shown alongside the work of Tina Farifteh.

The Theme: Borders and Connections - What does asylum mean to you?

The subject of asylum is in the news almost every day. All sorts of people are talking about it: from politicians, media commentators and human rights and aid organisations to members of the public who take one side or another.

Students were asked to share their perspective on the theme of asylum through a photo series and to capture this complex and urgent issue in their own way.

Eva van Kampen Franco about her work

"Five years ago, my father met Salah in a park near our house. Because of the war in Syria, he had to say goodbye to his family and start a new life alone in an unknown country with an unknown language. My father gave him some of our children's books to learn the language and since then he has been a good friend of our family. We visit Salah regularly to play games and eat together. With this series, we want to show how important this connection is to us, so that he can also feel a little at home here."