

Taryn Simon, London, England, June 25, 2011
‘It's important how I relate to the person being photographed, and later how the viewer relates to them. There is something happening between those people and me; I can't really describe it, it’s a sort of understanding, a reflection on each other. Sometimes, I feel that this relation becomes less direct with time – for the viewer it might not be so easy to identify with the young people I filmed in clubs almost 20 years ago for instance, because it’s obviously a different time. But what you see on a portrait existed and is still somehow part of the way we are now. There have been people on beaches and partygoers a hundred years ago, and you will still find them in a hundred years from now. There is always a situation, certain feelings, some emotions that are recognizable by everybody. I try to be close and truthful to this.’
Rineke Dijkstra in conversation with Jean-Marie Gallais, in REMEMBER EVERYTHING. 40 Years Galerie Max Hetzler, exh. cat., Berlin and London: Galerie Max Hetzler/Holzwarth Publications/Ridinghouse, 2014, p. 87