fe/male: Catherine Opie

Catherine Opie (1961, Sandusky, Ohio) portrays women of the “sexual underground” in Los Angeles who belong to her personal friends and the lesbian scene.In the shown series she concentrates on the face of the women with artificial beards and moustaches.

The portraits of drag-kings represent a certain part of the queer scene that became seen in the public only in the nineties while male drag-queens are part of the mainstream much longer.

Besides portraits of these drags Opie pre- sented typical butches in the art world for the first time. The outfit of the leather- and SM- scene provokes outside of the subculture and questions the duality of gender radically.


		Catherine Opie Catherine Opie (1961, Sandusky, Ohio) portrays women of the “sexual underground” in Los Angeles who belong to her personal friends and the lesbian scene.In the shown series she concentrates on the face of the women with artificial beards and moustaches. The portraits of drag-kings represent a certain part of the queer scene that became seen in the public only in the nineties while male drag-queens are part of the mainstream much longer. Besides portraits of these drags Opie pre- sented typical butches in the art world for the first time. The outfit of the leather- and SM- scene provokes outside of the subculture and questions the duality of gender radically.