Rineke Dijkstra  (Dutch, 1959) 

Photographer and video artist Rineke Dijkstra (Dutch, b.1959) was born in Sittard, the Netherlands, and attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam from 1981 until 1986. Her first solo exhibition took place in 1984 at Amsterdam’s Gallery de Moor. Dijkstra worked as a professional portrait photographer until the 1990s, when she began incorporating her own artistic style into portraiture. One of her first major series, Beaches (1992–1996), comprised of portraits of adolescents in bathing suits, expanded her audience to the international level. Dijkstra uses a wide array of models for her photographs, including club-goers, school children, soldiers, and young mothers with their newborn babies.

By mining the history of both painted and photographic portraiture for inspiration, Dijkstra creates unadorned depictions of her subjects that often appear simultaneously revealing and enigmatic. One of her first and best-known video projects, The Buzzclub, Liverpool, UK / Mysteryworld, Zaandam, NL (1996–1997), is a series of vignette-like recordings of young patrons at two European night clubs that documents them as they dance, smoke, and chatter against a white backdrop. Often compared to August Sander (German, 1876-1964) and Diane Arbus (American, 1923–1971), Dijkstra was the recipient of the Kodak Award Nederland in 1987, and was awarded the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize in 1998, among other distinctions. Her work has been displayed at venues around the world, including the 1997 and 2001 Venice Biennales. Dijkstra currently lives and works in Amsterdam.