Catherine Opie: To Be Seen
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.
Featuring a tactile quarter-bound cover, To Be Seen was created in close collaboration with the artist and offers an illuminating overview of the artist's lifelong interrogation of social and artistic representation. The volume includes high-quality reproductions of photographs produced throughout her career, encompassing her meticulously crafted studio portraits as well as her context-specific shots captured across America. Supplementing these images is a suite of texts, featuring scholarly essays, an excerpt from Joan Didion's "On the Road" and a dialogue between Opie and exhibition designer Katy Barkan.
Edited by Catherine Opie, Clare Freestone. Text by Joan Didion, Clare Freestone, Magdalene Keaney, Mark Godfrey, Alistair O'Neil.
Published by National Portrait Gallery, London
$50.00