“I suppose all along all I ever really wanted to do was paint people,” the American-born, London-based artist Chantal Joffe once said. “That never changed.” Joffe is known for her deceptively casual depictions of women and girls, whether it be a porn actress, a teacher, a mother and child. Her brushstrokes seem unplanned and scattered, yet they capture a narrative with powerful ease. In this series, Joffe aims to portray the awkward vulnerability that characterizes adolescents, girls and boys both. All look away with heavy-lidded eyes. All seem untrusting. And all are absorbed in their own changing realities. —E.C.