Catherine Opie shares the emotional and political motivations for her provocative and influential photography.

Catherine Opie b. 1961

Comprised of 852 black-and-white photographs, The Modernist presents a dystopian view of Los Angeles, a city which has figured prominently in Catherine Opie’s work over the years. She uses the formal and narrative structures from Chris Marker’s legendary photo-play La jetée to address contemporary themes of environmental collapse, global upheaval, and political breakdown.