While viewing this image, visitors responded to one of the questions Catherine Opie posed about portraits.
- Select one image and describe what it seems to express about the person shown.
- Do you think the artist is telling the truth about him- or herself?
- If you created a self-portrait, what would you want it to convey?
To read more about Catherine Opie's work, visit Catherine Opie: American Photographer
I see a portrait of a man who is absent in his own life. His hair line is receding, but he wears the face of a boy ashamed by his behavior. The person who sees the man here, the person who feels the shame is outside the man seated. I see a person who cannot fully realize who he is, who cannot live his life the way he knows he should. What remains here are the remains. The person who he wants to be is photographing the person who he is, or who his life actions reflect him to be. There is a lot of distance and criticism here, in the space between the camera and the subject. Because they are the same person an inner tension exists here between two versions of the same person, competing for realization and recognition in the world.
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It's a reminder to all of us: we were once young.
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