Catherine Opie : "Oliver in a Tutu" (2004)

Oliver in a Tutu

Catherine Opie

(2004)

Photograph

(image from ArtInfo)

This image by Catherine Opie calls some attention to the constructed ideals of gender, as well as the construction of family community. The child here is at play with two sets of constructed gender ideals. At first, the viewer may associate the child with the female gender, because of the stereotypically portrayed female garments; namely, the tiara, jewelry, and tutu. However, when the viewer is then drawn in and takes another look, the image of the child and its gender becomes more ambiguous, and the uncertainty grows. The facial features of the child do not lead the viewer on a path of easily catagorizable gender, and calls attention to our misgivings about what defines male and female, in this case in children. What adults have constructed as being easily identifiable signs of female gender (tutu, tiara, pink), have been displaced by just the opposite, the child’s short hair, t-shirt and an ambiguous face, all of which we usually define as being male.

In addition to the play on gender, the image has a sense of hominess, being that the child here, Oliver, is Opie’s own son, who seems to be captured candidly. It brings a sense of community forth, in that "The community here is Opie’s own family" (Green, 2006). The candid quality of the photo creates the intimacy that is both inviting and perplexing at once. The eye is gently guided around Oliver’s surroundings, form the inside with a pink glow from Oliver’s tutu to the contrasting cool colors outside.

Artist Biography: Available at The Guggenheim.

References: Green, T. (2006). Aquisition: Opie @ Guggenheim. retrieved from.