Erica Uhlenbeck
Untitled

1995
photography | c-print in frame
38 x 42 cm

The adolescents in Erica Uhlenbeck’s portraits look at us with an uninhibited but also self-assured gaze. The settings appear rather random, but one does note that each time a neutral background, such as a carelessly hung piece of cloth, has been chosen.

In the mid 1990s Uhlenbeck had an adolescent at home herself, with many friends in the middle school. When she began to provide photography lessons for the after school program, she became interested in the poses they adopted when in front of a camera.

“They found it interesting to present themselves before a ‘real’ camera. Furthermore, there was nothing like the selfie yet, so that the portraits radiate a certain innocence.”