This summer, as Edinburgh comes alive with the Festival, one of the most significant figures in contemporary photography comes to Scotland for the first time.

Curated in collaboration with the artist, Catherine Opie: To Be Seen at the Royal Scottish Academy features nearly 80 works spanning more than three decades of her pioneering photography.

Across seven rooms the works appear alongside a selection of portraits from Scotland’s national collection that ask questions about the politics and practice of portrait-making, drawing connections with the works of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Young British Artist Gillian Wearing and baroque Italian painter Benedetto Gennari.

Born in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1961, Opie has transformed the landscape of contemporary photography through a body of work that is as politically inquisitive as it is visually compelling. She has redefined portraiture and documentary photography by bringing queer culture, overlooked communities, intimate relationships and everyday lives into sharp focus, challenging conventional ideas of identity, belonging and representation.

From self-portraits and family studies to images of subcultures, landscapes and public spaces, her works have reshaped conversations around who is visible in contemporary culture. Opie has influenced generations of artists and curators through her focus on power, community and the social fabric of American life. She has also spent 25 years as professor of photography at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she continues to inspire a new generation of American photographers through teaching and mentoring.

To Be........

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