ARTIST // RINEKE DIJKSTRA

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Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch Photographer. She was trained at the Gerrit Reitveld Academie in Amsterdam and since the mid-1990’s, she has gained international acclaims for her photographs.

The Beaches series (1992-1996) for which she photographed adolescents in their bathing suits on beaches, again, gained international attention. Using 4×5-inch field camera with a standard lens and tripod, she creates exacting portraits or same visual style – forntal views, centred in the frame, posted against a minimal background that offer remarkable observation and emotional force.

 

Dijkstra is known for documenting girls, men and women in moments of great transition.
Her first and most famous images from the series focus on young women. In one, Kolobrzeg Poland 26 July 1992, her subject’s gangly arms and legs extend from a light green one-piece. Her long body, set off by a backdrop of sand, water, and sky, tilts to one side, as if she doesn’t quite know what to do with her fast-developing body.
Dijkstra refers to this series as a string of self-portraits, which revisit how she herself felt during the clumsy, confusing time between girlhood and womanhood.

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De Panne, Belgium, August 7 1992 1992 Rineke Dijkstra born 1959 Presented by the Patrons of New Art (Special Purchase Fund) through the Tate Gallery Foundation 1999 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78328
De Panne, Belgium, August 7 1992 1992 Rineke Dijkstra born 1959 Presented by the Patrons of New Art (Special Purchase Fund) through the Tate Gallery Foundation 1999 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78328
Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 23 1992 1992 Rineke Dijkstra born 1959 Presented by the Patrons of New Art (Special Purchase Fund) through the Tate Gallery Foundation 1999 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78329
Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 23 1992 1992 Rineke Dijkstra born 1959 Presented by the Patrons of New Art (Special Purchase Fund) through the Tate Gallery Foundation 1999 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78329

The Beach Goers

            The Beach Goers series was definitely one of her most popular work. The camera is low, looking up at the subjects.  Most of them are framed on their own, although there are several small groups of two or three.  Most of them are in their teens.  They stare into the camera with a mixture of confidence and awkwardness.  Standing in their swimwear, they look vulnerable and are beautiful despite their attempts to be fashionable.  Their clothes and hairstyles are the only clues that provide a context to help the viewer.

Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994
Saskia, Harderwijk, Netherlands, March 16 1994
Tecla, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 16 1994
Mothers
One of Dijkstra’s other popular work are the portrait photos she took of the mothers who were photographed just after giving birth. I find this series of work interesting and the photos, powerful. Their faces combine the freshness of adolescence with the weariness and pain of the experience of giving birth. These photos are definitely in contrast with the perfection of the bodies from her The Beach Goers series – compared to this series it captured bodies that have gone through a great deal.  The women stand naked against white background, holding their new babies to their chests. Standing there and being to be photographed demands attention – in this way, she can really capture these women’s experiences and the host of emotions that come with them.

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