Rineke Dijkstra

I chanced upon Rineke Dijkstra: A Retrospective in Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view/rineke-dijkstra-a-retrospective). I had seen her work once, somewhere on this rtw trip (I cannot remember where exactly). It was a photograph of a teenage boy in Vondelpark and it had not left a deep impression on me - I had  remembered this photograph only because the audio guide introduced how it was supposed to show the awkwardness of a teenager growing up.

Source: Marian Goodman Gallery

This time, I had not gone to see Dijkstra's works at the Guggenheim either. I had gone to check out A Long-Awaited Tribute: Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian House and Pavilion (which was a really disappointing exhibit imho). In short, I was clueless about Dijkstra and her works.

I learnt about Dijkstra in Guggenheim - she was born in the Netherlands in 1959 and worked as a formal portraitist for corporations until 1990 when she injured her hip in a road accident. She then began to work on own, taking photographs in series (such as taking a photograph of a girl annually as she transit from a child to a mother) and creating groups of photographs and videos around a specific typology or theme (such as adolescents in beaches). (source: http://www.guggenheim.org)

Individually, the photographs were beautiful but meant nothing to me. Collectively, her photographs evoked memories, showed transitions, reflected certain psychological states - things that I could relate. 

My favourite was a 4-channel video installation, The Krazyhouse (Megan, Simon, Nicky, Philip, Dee), Liverpool, UK (2009). 5 club goers were shown dancing to unfamiliar music in front of a white background. They were awkward, show-offish, energetic, happy... It was reminiscent of my youth. It was how we danced, how we watched people dance - enjoying ourselves, laughing at ourselves, laughing at others... I watched them and saw us in them.

To my friends who I used to dance with - Adrian, Angela, Patrick, Sean, Steven, Sun, Tricia, Wendy, Yean - I hope you are doing well.