Self-Portrait/Cutting (1993) by Catherine Opie, exhibition view from To Be Seen at the National Portrait Gallery (2026) by Birthe Havmøller.
Catherine Opie (b.1961) is one of America’s most famous queer artists. Catherine’s work questions representations of home, intimacy and family, politics, queer identity and power structures.
Catherine Opie is acclaimed for her arresting portraits and landscapes, which examine notions of gender, sexuality, and the fabric of American communities in technically-refined works with rich color. Opie was born in Sandusky, OH, and attended the San Francisco Art Institute—later receiving her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. After moving to Los Angeles, she began photographing her friends, who frequently identified with typically “marginalized” groups—the queer community and the San Francisco S&M community, among them—in efforts to offer alternative and more authentic representations of such communities. Opie created a series of compelling self-portraits around the same time, picturing her own body covered in provocative words or queer imagery, painfully incised into her skin. “Self-Portrait/Cutting” (1993), perhaps American lesbian photographer Catherine Opie’s greatest photograph.
Throughout her practice, Opie investigates queer culture and personal history, creating work that is often autobiographical and informed by her experiences as a lesbian woman. Catherine has recently retiered from a long career as an educator and professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles to work full time as a fine-art photographer.
