Catherine Opie: To Be Seen opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London next week, on Thursday 5 March. The exhibition, curated in collaboration with the artist, will be the first major museum exhibition of her work in the UK.

Conceptually rigorous and formally executed, Opie’s photographs make visible queer communities, mentors and collaborators, children, surfers, high school footballers, political crowds, and Opie herself, through self-portraiture.

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen will bring together over 80 photographs spanning 30 years of the artist’s groundbreaking career, beginning with her first major work, Being and Having (1991), as well as portraits of LGBTQ+ friends, inspired by court painter Hans Holbein, and Baroque-like portraits of other artists. The exhibition will see Opie’s portraits work in dialogue with one another to create new narratives, challenging viewers to reflect on the figures most commonly portrayed in art, and those who go unseen.

In addition to this exhibition, a series of interventions will place Opie’s photographs among the permanent Collection, probing further representation in the context of the National Portrait Gallery.

Later this year, the exhibition will tour to the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, at the Royal Scottish Academy building, 8 August–1 November 2026.

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen

5 March–31 May 2026

Catherine Opie in conversation
Friday 6 March 2026, 7–8pm
This event will take place at the National Portrait Gallery and will also be livestreamed to watch online. 

National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place
London
WC2H 0HE

Catherine Opie, The Pause that Dreams Against Erasure, continues at The Fridericianum, Kassel, until 19 July 2026.