Catherine Opie: To Be Seen

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen showcases photographic portraits by the American artist Catherine Opie. The exhibition, curated in collaboration with the artist, is the first major museum exhibition of her work in the UK.

Opie’s work questions representations of home, intimacy and family, politics, identity and power structures.

Over the past 30 years, Opie has explored and positioned the portrait in numerous contexts and visual formats. Conceptually rigorous and formally executed, her photographs make visible queer communities, mentors and collaborators, children, surfers, high school footballers, political crowds and Opie herself through self-portraiture.

Works featured in the exhibition span her first major work, Being and Having (1991), her portraits of LGBTQ+ friends inspired by court painter Hans Holbein, through to her Baroque-like portraits of artists. Portraits 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.

In addition to this exhibition, a series of interventions places Opie’s photographs in dialogue with the permanent Collection, probing further representation in the context of the National Portrait Gallery.