Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch photographer known for her series of classical frontal portraits that expose the awkwardness and uncertainties of her subjects. Dijkstra specializes in transition, presenting a collection of a wide range of American and Eastern European adolescents at the beach, in that twilight stage between childhood and the realities of the adult world. She has photographed new mothers just one hour or one day or one week after giving birth, photos that can only be described as starkly honest. Bloodied bullfighters just out of the ring are given their time in Dijkstra’s spotlight, bearing the scars of battles while young Israelis are shown upon starting their military service. Particularly compelling is her study of Olivier, an eighteen-year-old as he goes through the various stages of the French Foreign Legion.

Artist: Rineke Dijkstra
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