Tiergarten, Berlin, July 1
Rineke Dijkstra
Dutch, born 1959
Details
Title
Tiergarten, Berlin, July 1
Artist/Maker
Rineke Dijkstra (Dutch, born 1959)
Date
2000
Medium
Dye coupler print
Dimensions
59 7/8 × 50 3/8 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from the H. B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust
Accession #
2003.121
Location
Currently not on view
Shooting her subjects frontally and sometimes from below to monumentalize them, Rineke Dijkstra probes the vulnerability, emotional complexity, and awkwardness of adolescence. Using a large-format camera mounted on a tripod, she captures her subjects’ expression, pose, and gesture in mesmerizing detail. Because each exposure requires a separate sheet of film and precise adjustment of composition, making these photographs requires patience and time. Dijkstra has remarked that as her subjects wait for her to set up her exposure, they drop their social masks, revealing themselves guilelessly to the camera.