Beaches

Folio (339 x 239 mm), pp.56. 18 colour photographs, text in English and German by Birgid Uccia, design by Weiersmuller Bosshard Gruninger. Original silver paper-covered boards, spine lettered in black, upper side lettered in orange and black, illustrated with a black-and-white photograph affixed to upper side. No dust-jacket as issued. Fine.\n\nFirst edition and the first collection of this important series. ‘For me it is essential to understand that everyone is alone. Not in the sense of loneliness, but rather in the sense that no one can completely understand someone else. I know very well what Diane Arbus means when she says that one cannot crawl into someone else’s skin, but there is always an urge to do so anyway. I want to awaken definite sympathies for the person I have photographed.’ These photographs were taken on beaches in Europe and the United States. Dijkstra chooses her subjects carefully, looking for a gaze or gesture that sets them apart from other adolescents. They are then photographed on their own or in groups of two and three.\n\nParr, M. and Badger, G., The Photobook: A History Vol.II, p.277.