At 60 years old, Catherine Opie speaks with grace and strength that comes from a lifetime of forging her own path through art and connecting with people from all walks of life, whether standing behind the camera and in front of the classroom. As one of the leading photographers of her generation, Opie has chronicled the people, places, and politics of a United States deeply grounded in the intersection between home and identity, creating an intimate portrait of contemporary American life.
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In the retrospective monograph, Catherine Opie (Phaidon), the artist brings together over 200 images made over the past 40 years from a wide array of series that reveal the innate humanity we all share. Whether photographing lesbians or high school football players across the US, surfers in California, or ice fishers in Minnesota, Opie is attuned to the subtle frequencies of the individual and the communities they populate.
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Throughout her life, photography has served as a bridge, helping Opie to navigate her way through different groups. It is a practice she picked up in her youth, one born out of a very real need to reach across the divide. At the age of 13, Opie moved from Ohio to California, and entered high school as the “new girl”, fairly shy and unsure how to connect with kids who grew up together. “I wasn’t great at figuring out how to make friends,” Opie tells Dazed.
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Then inspiration struck. Opie, who had been experimenting in photography since age nine, built a darkroom and began photographing her friends in school plays. “I would go home, print the photographs at night, and then give them prints,” Opie recalls of her formative experience forging bonds with new groups. Things fell into place as Opie found her role: the engaged observer who could move seamlessly between different groups. Wherever the path may take her, Opie can embed herself within the fabric of a community without disrupting it.
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