rineke dijkstra began her career as a freelance photographer for magazines like Elle and Elegance after studying photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Akademie in Amsterdam from 1981 to 1986. Since the latter part of the 1980s, she has concentrated on portraits, specifically portraits of young children and adolescents. Her photographs are usually grouped into series, and they often feature simple compositions that deepen the psychological intensity of her young subjects. The first series to win Dijkstra international success was Beaches, 1992-96, a group of images created for a Dutch newspaper commission that called for pictures about summertime. Since the Beaches series Dijkstra has further explored her interest in people during transitional moments: mothers immediately after giving birth, bullfighters about to enter the arena, and youths entering the military. Born in Sittard, the Netherlands in 1959, Rineke Dijkstra now lives and works in Amsterdam. Since her first solo exhibition in 1984, she has been included in numerous exhibitions including the Venice Biennale in 1997 and 2001 and the Bienal de São Paulo in 1998. Dijkstra received the Kodak Award Nederland in 1987 and the Citibank Photography Prize in 1998.

In her Self-portrait, Marnixbad, Amsterdam, 1991, Dijkstra seems to have just emerged from a pool wearing a soaked swimsuit, a swim cap, and goggles. The tiled walls and floor shine as does her wet flesh. Produced during her recovery from a car accident in 1990, this portrait marks a new trend in her work. Following the creation of this self-portrait, Dijkstra began her photographs of adolescent bathers. The immediacy captured by this self-portrait foreshadows the frankness that characterizes her images of young children and teenagers. The artist strikes a pose that is reminiscent of an awkward pre-teen. With her hands to her face, Dijkstra communicates a vulnerability associated with youthful innocence. The substantial size of this image forces the viewer to confront the artist during her transitional phase of rehabilitation and hopefully catch a glimpse of what the artist deems true. Rineke Dijkstra once said that a photo is always a kind of lie and that truth is only present for a matter of a fraction of a second.

--Jennifer Tafe, MA, Art History, George Washington University