“My work is really simple; I don't have a lot of hidden agendas. It's about place and identity and how they inform each other, and that includes myself; but iconic images need to be simple, powerful, and specific.” Photo: Nicole Belle < CATHERINE OPIE > CATHERINE OPIE Catherine Opie was born in Sandusky, Ohio of California, Irvine. As her work became in 1961. When she was almost nine, she more well-known she accepted teaching discovered the work of photographer Lewis positions and residencies at such institutions Hine, who documented the plight of child as the St. Louis Museum of Art; the Walker laborers at the turn of the 20th century. Art Center, Minneapolis; and Yale University. Inspired by Hine’s photographs, she requested In 2002 she was offered a tenured position at a camera for her ninth birthday, and was given the University of California, Los Angeles. a Kodak Instamatic by her parents. She immediately began photographing her family Opie uses her camera to examine the world and neighborhood, exhibiting a fascination around her, documenting community, with community that continues to this day. decoding identity, and deciphering American Opie notes, “basically what I did then, and culture. She has developed a contemporary I still do is wander around with my camera approach to documentary photography and to describe my relationship to the world and credits earlier photographers including where I live.” Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and August Sander and among her When she was 18 Opie moved to San greatest historical influences. Francisco to study photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. After graduating in Although she is best known for her striking 1985, she enrolled in the MFA program at images of individuals from specific CalArts in Valencia. Her thesis project Master communities or subcultures, she has also Plan examined the planned communities consistently photographed the natural and of Valencia, from house construction and urban landscapes that surround her. These advertisement schemes, to homeowner bodies of work represent a different but regulations and the homes of residents. related approach to her interest in community and identity—an interest that unifies all her In 1989 Opie moved to Los Angeles and projects to date, whether focused on gender began working as an artist, supporting herself and sexual identities, notions of community, until 1994 as a lab technician at the University or her singular vision of life in the USA. “I always tell the people I’m photographing not to look at the lens but to look through the lens. I want them to look through you a little bit. I told them I wanted them to be in a really special place inside their heads, to be kind of dreamy and confident at the same time.” Jo, 1993 Chromogenic print, 20 x 16 inches Edition of 8 < PORTRAITS > CATHERINE OPIE Opie’s Portraits series, encompassing more (1497/98–1543), Opie isolates her subjects PORTRAITS than fifty photographs created between 1993 against vibrantly colored backgrounds of blue, and 1997, synthesizes an approach that is at brown, green, purple, or red. She says, “the once grounded in documentary tradition and colored backdrop allows your eye to go deeply personal. The subject matter is her through the photograph in a different way than community of gay and lesbian friends. As part if it was, say, a person sitting in their house. It’s of a community that is not represented in about separating the subject from their world, mainstream American culture, Opie sought but still representing their world through their to provide visibility and representation to her body.” The portraits are often three-quarter friends and the community at large. or bust-length shots, with the subjects standing or sitting, their eyes frequently locked with Opie creates discrete bodies of work in series, the lens in looks that range from boredom each with specific parameters. Portraits reflects to defiance. a typological tradition that can be traced from nineteenth-century archival documentation This highly formal style of composition is through August Sander’s People of the 20th a means of paying tribute to her friends, Century project, which Opie has cited as an who were unaccustomed to such dignified influence. Sander’s straightforward portraits, pictorial treatment. As Opie liked to think, taken during the Weimar Republic, are frontal, “The photographs stare back, or they stare centered in the frame, evenly lit, and present through you. They’re very royal. I say that individuals organized by types such as “The my friends are like my royal family.” Skilled Tradesman,” “Classes and Professions,” and “The Artists.” Although Opie’s photographs Opie’s Portraits celebrate the bravery of her echo Sander's in many ways, she is careful to subjects’ decisions to craft their own identities present her subjects on their own terms, without in the face of restrictive social norms. The a repressive system of labeling. series documents this living community, rendering visible an otherwise invisible or In the tradition of the Northern Renaissance misunderstood sector of American culture court painter Hans Holbein the Younger with characteristic respect and compassion. VIEW + DISCUSS Jo Show: , 1993 FURTHER EXPLORATIONSEXPLORATIONS ▲ Although photographs don’t always reveal reality, what are some of the • One of Opie’s motivations in creating this series was to depict her characteristics that this portrait friends in a respectful and dignified way that replaced stereotypes. suggests about its subject? Write a A stereotype is an exaggerated belief, image, or generalization about brief character profile that includes a person or group. Stereotypes are based on images in mass media, what you imagine this person’s or ideas passed on by parents or peers. Once learned, stereotypes approximate age, livelihood, living and prejudices resist change, even when evidence points to the contrary. What group do you feel is unfairly stereotyped by the situation, and hobbies might be. media? Today’s kids, teenagers, an ethnic or religious group, etc. may ▲ come to mind. Explain the difference between the way this group is This person’s eyes seem to be looking stereotyped and your personal experience of these individuals. directly at the viewer. If you were to start a conversation with this person, • The Web site www.tolerance.org is dedicated to dismantling bigotry what might be the dialogue? and creating communities that value diversity. The site offers resources for teachers, parents, teenagers, and kids, and includes ▲ Opie acknowledges the influence a section titled “Hidden Bias: A Primer About Stereotypes and of Renaissance court painter Hans Prejudices” that discusses the effects of prejudice and stereotypes and what you can do to prevent them. For more information, visit: Holbein the Younger (1497/1498–1543) in her approach to these portraits http://www.tolerance.org/hidden_bias/tutorials/index.html. and even refers to this series of photographs as her “royal family.” • Opie presents a print to each of her subjects. Some display them Compare Opie’s approach to proudly, while others are uncomfortable with their depictions. What is your favorite photograph of yourself? What is your least favorite? Holbein’s painting of Sir Thomas If possible make photocopies of both and write about what you most More. What similarities do you like—and dislike—about these representations. notice? What differences? • Work with a partner to create a photographic portrait. Before taking the photograph decide what you will wear, and what your pose, facial expression, background, lighting, and cropping will be. How do these choices help to convey information about who you are? Hans Holbein the Younger Opie’s Portraits series was informed by several sources, including the Sir Thomas More, 1527 • Oil on oak panel 29 1/2 x 23 3/4 in. work of German photographer August Sander (1876–1964). Sander’s The Frick Collection, Henry Clay project, People of the 20th Century, was intended as a comprehensive Frick Bequest. photographic index of the German people. Over some forty years ▲ he photographed subjects from all walks of life. Although the Nazis If Opie were to create your portrait, banned the portraits in the 1930s because the subjects did not adhere what pose would best portray you? to the ideal Aryan type, Sander continued to make photographs. Why? What color fabric would you The directness of Sander’s portraits continues to influence artists prefer in the background? Why? today. Research Sander’s work and discuss why the Nazi government felt that it should be destroyed. “The Freeways are the architecture that will be left behind like the pyramids in Egypt.” Untitled #1 (Freeways), 1994 Platinum print, 2 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches Edition of 5 < FREEWAYS > CATHERINE OPIE Since the 1950s the California highway system In order to eliminate people and automobiles has played a vital role in the formation and from her compositions, Opie photographed development of the Los Angeles metro area. early on weekend mornings. Emptying the FREEWAYS During the mid-1990s Catherine Opie found freeways stripped them of their functionality, herself using this highway system regularly. providing a rare view of the structures While commuting each day, Opie first began themselves and highlighting their systematic to notice the beauty of the interstate concrete. organization. Opie imbued the works with a “I’d start watching these shapes and these kind of timelessness, veering toward abstraction forms, and I’d just be like, ‘God, you know, in her views of swooping overpasses set against these are really kind of phenomenal structures.’ muted skies. In many images the freeway I thought about that for a good year before I structures look like all that remains of human went out with a camera and figured out how culture in some post-apocalyptic future.