1959-

Rineke Dijkstra has emerged as an iconic photographer of her generation with her frank, full-length portraits of subjects posed in the way of their choosing, at once unpretentious and self-conscious.  As in her self-portrait in a bathing suit —  the artist began swimming to overcome illness — Dijkstra’s subjects often appear defenseless and vulnerable.  A seminal series of adolescents in wet swimsuits depicts this dichotomy.  When the subject is unprotected, the viewer is apt to be compassionate:  “I want to awaken definite sympathies for the person I have photographed,” Dijkstra said.