Rineke Dijkstra’s “Beach Portraits” feature adolescent boys and girls from countries including The Netherlands, Gabon, Ukraine, and the United States. The artist placed each child alone against the vastness of the ocean and photographed him or her straight on, in a pose of the child’s choice. Dijkstra often captured the moment just before her model reached a pose or just after she or he released it. One of the artist’s main goals is to make the everyday appear special, and in Coney Island, N.Y., USA, June 20, 1993, she managed to capture not only the hesitance, insecurity, and awkwardness of the young girl, but also her inherent beauty and dignity. That these characteristics are shared by adolescents around the world is confirmed by the multinational array of images in the series.

Label from DECADE: Contemporary Collecting 2002–2012, August 21, 2012–January 6, 2013