from the Liverpool series
Nicky, Liverpool, England, January 19, 2009
archival inkjet-print. 96,4 x 75 cm

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In her recent series of photographs and videos „Liverpool“, Dutch artist RINEKE DIJKSTRA, who made her name in the early ’90s with still photographs of adolescents posed on beaches from Hilton Head. S.C., to Odessa, set up a white box studio on the dance floor of the Krazy House Club and invited teenagers to come to the studio to film them dancing to their favorite tracks during the weekdays when the club was closed.

Because of the sobriety of the background and the austere composition all attention is drawn to the teenager who appears equally vulnerable and tense (portraits of DIJKSTRA are never staged therefore the figures are almost entirely free of any embellishment).

Through her visual language RINEKE DIJKSTRA tries to read the hidden or invisible. As a result the subjects of her portraits gradually lose control over their image. Showing themselves in a different light they reveal more than they wish to, either their physical and character traits mutations or what seems to be their aspirations.

“I took a still portrait of Nicki but the video is much more her,” Dijkstra says. “She looks tougher in the photograph. With these portraits, it’s vulnerable, but at the same time it’s also about power, isn’t it? When people are totally themselves, it’s also very powerful.” – RINEKE DIJKSTRA for New York Times Magazine