ESSAYS
STYLING
OTHER MUSINGS
[Essay]
Catherine Opie's reclamation and subversion of lesbian identity in her photographic series ‘Domestic’.
Figure 1 - Opie, C. (1998) Domestic
Within this Essay, the depictions of lesbian couples within visual culture will explore the provocative nature of queer identity. Lesbianism has gone historically unrecorded and hidden from the public eye. It is only within the last century that a discourse around lesbian culture has emerged. This is because of the marginalisation of female sexuality. By understanding why this has occurred by looking at the historical context, we can understand why Catherine Opie’s photographs help produce a depiction of lesbianism that subverts typical discourses of queerness and is provocative. These photographs from the Domestic 1998 series also show light on interracial relationships, which have been ignored throughout queer (and heteronormative) histories. This essay analyses only one photograph, but the whole series will be referred to in order to understand the broader social context and narrative. These photographs are crucial in producing an identity for the lesbian community to create a narrative for a marginalised voice that has been previously ignored.
Catherine Opie utilised visual culture to create a look at the hidden aspects of the lesbian identity. Visual culture can be defined as all visual practices within society and the aestheticisation of these depictions (Oxford reference). Catherine Opie is a lesbian photographer who gained traction for depicting taboo sexual subjects in her photographs, such as BDSM. Yet, the photograph (Figure 1) from Catherine Opie’s 1998 photographic series Domestic takes the audience on a different, more intimate, experience. Opie travelled around the US for over three months on a motorhome road trip, taking photographs depicting lesbian couples. These photographs show couples in everyday household activities; playing with their children, relaxing in the backyard, and cooking in the kitchen. These intimate and personal photographs show a unique perspective lacking in the mainstream media. These photographs create a visual culture that shows a quiet side of life, a lack of sensationalism that is more ordinary.
The quietness of the photograph creates a narrative needed for the LGBT community. The mainstream depiction of queer culture at this time was focused on the AIDs Crisis. This time was just after the peak of the Aids crisis in American history, where there were highlighted voices of gay men and raised awareness about societal standards. Still, the impact on women and lesbian culture was ignored or demonised. Described as “social death” (Wright, 2013, pp. 1788 - 1798), fear of queerness, death and social isolation extended to queer women, even though the focus was on gay men. Usually, this would lead to stereotypes and social stigma around queerness within mainstream visual culture. This is important to note, as it may impact Opie's representation of visual culture is shaped by this time; instead of looking at the spectacle common in queer selections, Opie’s photographs engine in a kneaded quietness. The impact of the quietness of (figure 1) normalises those in queer relationships; the lack of spectacle makes it relatable to anyone involved in queer culture or outside of it. The beauty of the normality of the photographs shines through, leaving a lasting impression and creating a communal identity.
The title of Domestic is an interesting subversion of the historical ideas of domesticity and women. Historically, the domestic home was used to control and limit women to the home and their role as housekeepers for the nuclear family. But for some women, shielded from prying public eyes, these women are comfortable to be whoever they are in their home, away from homophobia and public shame. This creates the argument that although the domestic sphere has protected lesbians throughout history, allowing them to be themselves. Yet, it led to the erasure of lesbian history, as it became undocumented (Mahawatte, 2023). This led to cultural denial and questioning of the lesbian's existence. Continually, the women were limited due to the lack of language to describe themselves, their thoughts, or actions. These women were limited within the societal constraints of the time they were from (Oram, Turnball, 2001, p. 1). Women's suppressed sexuality continued in heterosexual and queer spaces for decades. Opie’s camera expands the relationship between queerness and the domestic space in a way that reclaims the narrative as its own.
By bringing a camera into this space, the audience is invited into this sanctuary, documenting a new queer history. Previously, it can be argued that American history had been documented in a hegemonic nature. Hemongy, as defined by Morangdo, refers to the belief system that supports the system of power (1996, p. 47). They further define how the “end of history” (p. 43) has created opportunities for other narratives. The system in power, especially in 1990s America, marginalises queer couples. America has a long history of homophobia against any queer individuals, through social, cultural, and legal punishment, pushing them into the underbelly of society. The unapologetic violation of America’s homophobic public marginalisation of queer individuals makes these photographs a subversion of the delicate white heterosexual America. Therefore, making this photograph transgressive art. Transgressive art refers to art that provokes and challenges those in power, often showing something provocative against societal standards (McCartney, 2023). However, the image may not seem provocative by today's standards, in comparison to Opie's other photographs, in the 1990s against the Aids crisis and numerous other social stigmas that have been previously discussed. The creation of a queer history removed from social stigmas in a private home creates a look at an underlying unshifting identity.
In creating this art, Opie also utilises visual culture to create an archive that records queer history. By utilising Archive fever, we can understand the importance that the archive plays in creating power dynamics, stating that the archive holder controls the democracy (Derrida, 1995, pp. 1-5). The use of these photographs as an archive controls voices and essentially frees them from constraints placed upon. This agency given by the creative practitioners drives the idea that Nicola McCarnthy puts forward stating the need for a separate “hirstory that accounts for previous bias and edits” (2023 p. 558) that creates equality, ensuring the uplifting of previously marginalised voices. When Opie controls this, her gaze is imparted upon the world, leaving the world with a piece of lesbian history, documenting the social and gives the LGBT community power, and therefore identity, that cannot be ignored or forgotten.
While producing documentation of this cultural identity, the importance of challenging gender is confirmed through dress. They are by the window in their home as one holds another. The lighting is bright as it comes through the window, and there are shadows from the blinds. It gives the impression of a summer's day. One woman wears a white, maybe even pale yellow shirt. It is loose and shapeless. Her hair is cut short on the sides and slightly long on top. The other woman, who stands in front, is wearing a white T-shirt and black jeans. Her hair is longer, but still bob length. They both perform to ideas of masculinity and femininity, reflecting different gender roles. The shirt is a marker of masculinity, associated with white collar workers, and the office lifestyle. Now, on a female body it becomes andronamous. Ambiguous Gender, “is within itself provocative, inevitability transformed into a deviance, thirdness or blurred vision or a blurred version of either male or female '' (Halberstam, J. 1998, p. 20). It destroys the performance of gender that is built within society, and by removing oneself of this they remove the power that society gives to their sex. This removal of apparent sex creates a cultural identity that is seen within Lesbian’s culture but not as recorded.
The difference in social identity is examined through clothing. Feminine Dress is depicted within the other sitter. This represents a contrasting masc/fem couple dynamic stereotypically seen in Lesbain culture. This was the assumed case until the 1990s when “shifts in our understanding of gender focused less attention on butch and femme as roles and more attention to the ways lesbian women use these labels'' (Kerr, 2013, p. 10). But, the external expression of one's gender, whether it is for the expression of identity or pleasure, changes how one is perceived by society and how society acts towards them. Feminine-presenting individuals are treated better than masculine-presenting individuals (2013, p. 70). Yet, this does not make their struggles or identity any less valid. The management of one's identity and sexuality should not be limited to what they were, primarily when one's behaviour or personality is not known. So, in this case, the production of their identity can not be known and may even be subverted.
The image is provocative against traditional nuclear family roles. This formulaic depiction has dominated the mainstream. Continually, the roles of the sitters can perform to these roles because of their fem/masc dress, which can be inferred as a traditional parental role. The shirt can perform to the ideas of the American dream, where the masculine figurehead works a middle-class stable job, and the other, a more feminine individual, looks after the child. Yet, not enough is said about the couple to know if this is the situation at hand. Still, the implication of wearing a shirt in this stylised manner but the private essence of the moment still stands. The family unit is portrayed in a traditional framework, but because of the sex of the parents, it is controversial to many. Opie's documentation of this family may be controversial, but it still provides a needed representation of a loving working parent unit and family. It produces needed representation, not only for the parental figures, but so the children raised in this non-heterosexual environment can have their own identity. This normalisation creates space for positive growth within a new generation, allowing them to become a new voice of change within a society that is not as accepting.
The portrayal of interracial couples is crucial in understanding the broader social marginalisation of black and queer identity. It brings to light how it has not just been patriarchal white, heterosexual men who have ignored these narratives, but challenges even feminists and queer historians' essentially discriminatory and racist lifestyles where queer and interracial narratives have been ignored. Sullivan expands on these ideas stating “race-blind theorists and activists have allegedly fantasied a gay communicity that … is homogeneous, and this alienates all those who do not fit with the figure of’ the homosexual’; that is non-whites, lesbian, disabled gays and lesbians, working-class gays and lesbians, transsexuals, intersexed people” (2003 p. 76). Linking back to another point in this essay, the child appears to be mixed race, so including her within this narrative creates a space allowing for identity, especially for a child growing up in an ‘unconventional’ family unit. This formation of those with loved ones within the lgbt community creates a positive representation for them, one that shows the normalcy of everyday life.
To conclude, Catherine Opie's work comes from a deeply personal place as a creative practitioner who has created a space for a previously underrepresented part of lesbian American culture. Her use of domestic has successfully reclaimed a place that was used to keep the American women limited in her ability to expand into broader society. The commonplace and casual depictions of intimacy create a normalcy of quiet in a time of American history ripe with homophobia. By capturing the family of figure one within their home creates an identity that is provocative due to the queer nature of the family but is still loving. The representation conveyed creates an identity previously made quiet and ignored. The documentation of such individuals secures a history for themselves; one desperately needed as it has been overlooked. It also gives them power through control of the archive and her gaze. Lesbian culture is shown through the use of dress as it challenges and subverts the world around them. The most crucial aspect of this photographic series is the way identity is constructed in a casual, normalised way that challenges people's perception of lesbians, hopefully subverting the social stigmas of interracial and nuclear family roles. Overall, Opie's work documents a lesbian identity many people would not choose to look at or analyse. Yet, it uplifts a group of people close to Opie, giving them a voice.
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