Ronja Falkenbach

Homage (2025)

The history of art is rich with depictions of people at the beach. From Botticelli's idealized "The Birth of Venus" (1485) to "The Monk by the Sea" by Caspar David Friedrich (1808-1810) and Joel Meyerowitz's photographs in "On The Beach" (1988), artists have consistently sought to capture the relationship between humanity and the sea. Rineke Dijkstra's "Beach Portraits" also joins this tradition. She has always been a major role model for me in my development as a portrait photographer.

By chance brought to the beach of Famara, the setting made it seem natural to emulate Dijkstra's visual world without hesitation, as copying old masters was common practice in academic training in painting until the last century. Technical skills and the analysis of composition, color, and style were taught in this way. However, the further I delved into the project, the clearer its strengths and weaknesses became: Alongside the joy of successfully replicating Dijkstra's photographs came the realization that my images were strikingly similar to hers, thus elevating the copy to a concept. The question arose for me: Are these copies a permissible artistic appropriation or just plagiarism? To avoid the latter, I juxtapose the portraits of those who expose themselves to the natural elements of earth, wind, sun, and water on the beach with photos of these very elements. This creates a new narrative that has clear references to Dijkstra and should be read as a homage to her work.