Catherine Opie: To Be Seen
Hardcover
General PhotographyPhotographers
Publisher Price: $49.95
ISBN13: 9781855148307
Publisher: National Portrait Gallery
Published: Apr 21 2026
Pages: 192
Weight: 2.85
Height: 0.90 Width: 9.30 Depth: 11.40
Language: English
Thirty-plus years of Opie's stylized investigations of identity and social belonging through portraiture
This publication accompanies a major survey at the National Portrait Gallery, spanning the entirety of American photographer Catherine Opie's career. At the core of Opie's work is a persistent exploration of society's evolving ideas regarding community, identity and belonging, especially within the LGBTQ+ community. Opie's wide-ranging portraits include intimate studio shots of friends and figures, capturing moments of vulnerability, pride and resilience. Alongside these, she creates socially engaged documentary narratives, such as her images from the inauguration of Barack Obama. These photographs work in dialogue with one another to create new narratives, challenging viewers to reflect on the figures most commonly portrayed in art and those who go unseen.
Living and working in Los Angeles, Catherine Opie (born 1961) relays between conceptual and documentary approaches to image-making. Best known for her highly stylized color portraits, Opie's work explores social strata throughout America, from Black football players in the Midwest to leather-clad S&M practitioners. Her work has enjoyed immense critical acclaim, including retrospectives at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2008 and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 2011.
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