Queer Justice
Cathrine Opie
My campus commentary is on Catherine Opie’s exhibition In Dialogue, displayed in the Van Every/Smith Galleries, and how she explores what to focus on in a world where everything is increasingly more urgent. Catherine Opie’s pieces all have different meanings, but they share the common thread of being about the issues in America that she finds to be most interesting and relevant.. The exhibition’s title, In Dialogue, points to many different ways her pieces of work complement and connect to each other. It also refers to how each of her pieces are in dialogue with themselves, for example, the diptych form used in her 2020 series pairs photographs of major events from the 2020s, such as police shootings and removal of Confederate monuments, with ones of landscapes and environments, where the events had occurred all from her road trip to the southeastern United States (Opie). The placement of the photographs creates a dialogue between the two, but with many diptychs, they show our past as a country and they show where we are going moving forwards. Through the exhibition, Opie gives insight into the state of the United States at such a tumultuous time in its history. Her art reminds people that the battle against injustice is not yet won, but that we must keep on pushing forward rather than monumentalizing what we’ve already accomplished. She also shows how multiple things can be of great urgency, the best example being the diptych, and how we should focus on working towards whatever gets us to a place where we can “breathe easier” (Opie).
Opie conveys this perspective successful, not only through the information given on the labels about the photographs but from the photographs themselves. The stark contrast in each set, tells a clear story of where the United States racist past and present, but they leave out what comes next in confronting the problem of racism in our nation. This is where her series Monument/Monumental comes into the discussion, which is made up of six photos of intentionally out-of-focus American landscapes and one photo of the Confederate statue of Robert E. Lee that was reclaimed by Black Lives Matter protesters in sharp focus in the center (Opie). This series sends the message that has been accomplished thus far is great, however, we can not rest easy in this as in reality there has been no permanent change. Two sunset photos bookend either end of the piece, while it looks like the photos were taken at different times, in fact, the photos are of the same sunset, each one taken from a different perspective. The series tells us how the sun has not set on the battle against racism, even when we see big strides being taken such as eliminating Confederate monuments.
The exhibition was thought-provoking and kept me fully engaged with the works while I was there. Each piece working with each other in order to heighten the meaning of another really drew me in and kept me coming back. The only thing that felt disconnected to me was The Modernist; it didn’t fit into the rest of the exhibition as well which may be because it was made in 2016-17 while the rest of the pieces were from 2019 and 2020. It could have also been how The Modernist was set in California and drawing from situations there, while the vast majority of the other pieces were drawing from events in mostly the southeastern United States. Then again, there could have been a completely obvious connection between them that I missed because it was in a separate part of the gallery from the rest of the art which made a disconnect more apparent in my mind. Opie’s process of making art out of whatever she finds most urgent at the time resonates with me, and my favorite quote of hers from her talk was, “What’s urgent is whatever gets you to a place you can breathe easier” (Opie). With the chaotic state of our world, it always feels as though whatever is happening presently is the most urgent thing. However, Opie’s take on reflecting to see what will make one calmer, and then taking action towards reaching that goal, helps me put into perspective my place in working towards change and how I help even on a smaller scale.
Works Cited
Opie, Catherine and Cotton, Charlotte . “In Dialogue.” Artists Lecture, 15 October 2024, Davidson College, Davidson, NC. Lecture
Opie, Catherine. In Dialogue, 15 October 2024, Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson, NC.
Opie, Catherine. Monument/Monumental. 2020, Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson, NC.
