ART CITIES:Berlin-Rineke Dijkstra
Since the early ‘90s, Rineke Dijkstra has produced a complex body of photographic and video work, offering a contemporary take on the genre of portraiture. Her large-scale color photographs of young, typically adolescent subjects recall 17th Century Dutch painting in their scale and visual acuity. The minimal contextual details present in her photographs and videos encourage us to focus on the exchange between photographer and subject and the relationship between viewer and viewed.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galerie Max Hetzler Archive
Rineke Dijkstra in her solo exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin, presents photographs from the series “Emma, Lucy, Cécile (Three Sister 2008–14)” and her video “Marianna (The Fairy Doll)”. Dijkstra works in series, creating groups of photographs and videos around a specific typology or theme. For the series “Emma, Lucy, Cécile (Three Sister 2008–14)” Rineke Dijkstra made photographic portraits of three sisters in Amsterdam, once a year for seven years. Rineke Dijkstra first met the family in 2005, in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. There she took a photograph of Emma and her boyfriend Ben, which soon became one of the best-known works in her “Park” series. In 2008, Dijkstra began photographing the three sisters, always at Easter and always separately. When Dijkstra took the first photographs, Emma was 18 years old, Lucy 10, and Cécile 4. The series of 21 portraits now on display at Galerie Max Hetzler thus has a range of intriguing implications. She followed the same pattern as in her well-known series “Almerisa and Olivier” by taking photos at regular intervals, she invites us to follow her subjects as they transform over time. Yet because these are three sisters, the emphasis is less on the individual and more on the underlying factors that play a large part in shaping any human being: origins and time. In her video “Marianna (The Fairy Doll)” we are introduced to a young classical dancer during a working session. The video follows one of her rehearsals in the studio of the Ilya Kuznetsov Children’s Ballet school in Moscow. Dijkstra delivers a touching portrait of this ballerina who has set out on the path to realize the dream of millions of young girls. This eloquent film bears witness to both Marianna’s determination and dedication as well as her fragility and vulnerability. It is not by chance that Rineke Dijkstra is interested in the transition from childhood to adolescence; a time when every individual builds his or her own identity and begins to present themselves in the way they wish to be perceived. Full of humanity and empathy Dijkstra creates a real intimacy with her young models. Rineke Dijkstra’s films behave like a mirror, we see how the young people position themselves in front of her lens, then through one false movement their guard is let down and their real personas are brought into sharp relief and reflected back at us.
Info: Galerie Max Hetzler, Goethestraße 2/3, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Duration: 27/1-4/3/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-18:00, www.maxhetzler.com
