Catherine Opie survey in London
The National Portrait Gallery in London is showing “To Be Seen,” a 30‑year Catherine Opie retrospective that traces queer identity and community — key works include her 1993 Self‑Portrait/Cutting. The show is being praised for its emotional honesty and its chronicle of resilience and visibility within LGBT communities Catherine Opie: Queer as Folk Oscar contenders and women of substance – what to watch, read and see this week.
The exhibition runs from 5 March to 31 May 2026 and brings together over 80 photographs, a show the National Portrait Gallery bills as the first major museum exhibition of Catherine Opie’s work in the UK. npg.org.uk The display was realised in close collaboration with Opie and led by the Gallery’s Curator of Photography, Clare Freestone, who is running members’ curator tours of the show. npg.org.uk The official hardcover catalogue was edited by Freestone and features essays by Joan Didion, Mark Godfrey and Magdalene Keaney. shop.nationalgalleries.org Architect Katy Barkan designed the exhibition’s three-room layout for the NPG, and the programme includes a series of interventions that place Opie’s portraits in direct dialogue with the Gallery’s permanent collection — a strategy the press release outlines and the Telegraph described as a dozen pairings across the building. npg.org.uk The show will tour to the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, running from 8 August to 1 November 2026, where organisers say visitors will encounter nearly 80 portraits alongside selections from Scotland’s national collection. nationalgalleries.org The accompanying catalogue runs to 192 pages and reproduces 120 images from the exhibition. shop.nationalgalleries.org
