Renowned photographer Catherine Opie in residence at Elam School of Fine Arts

Esteemed American photographer Catherine Opie will deliver a public lecture and mount a special exhibition in Auckland as part of her role as an Elam International Artist in Residence at The University of Auckland.

Catherine Opie is Professor of Photography at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is regarded as one of the world’s most important living photographers, a reputation that was cemented by the 2008 mid-career survey of her work at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The show, Catherine Opie: American Photographer, demonstrated the vast scope of her work, including series of portraits and American urban landscapes that range in format from large-scale color works to smaller black and white prints. Moving from the territory of the body to the framework of the city, Opie's various photographic series are linked together by a conceptual framework of cultural portraiture.

In 2009, Catherine Opie received the Women’s Caucus for Art: President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement. She has exhibited extensively around the world at such illustrious venues as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Photographers’ Gallery in London, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Centre d'Art Contemporain in Geneva, Switzerland and the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Germany.

“We are extremely privileged to host an artist of Catherine Opie’s calibre as our forthcoming Elam International Artist in Residence,” says Professor Jenny Dixon, Dean of the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries (NICAI). “The opportunity to learn from and work alongside such a widely respected photographer will no doubt have a great impact on our Elam students.”

Catherine Opie will deliver a public lecture about her work on 19 July at 6.30pm at the University’s Engineering Lecture Theatre (401, 20 Symonds Street). No bookings. Parking available in the Owen G. Glenn building.

While in New Zealand, Catherine Opie will also produce a new show drawn from her work with Elam students. The exhibition will open Tuesday 9 August at 6pm at projectspace B431(ground floor, Elam’s Main Fine Arts Building, 20 Whitaker Place). The exhibition will be open to the public 10-13 August, 11am-4pm.

For more information visit www.regenprojects.com/artists/catherine-opie

The Elam International Artist in Residence Programme is generously supported by Dame Jenny Gibbs.

The University of Auckland’s National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries comprises the School of Architecture and Planning, Elam School of Fine Arts, the Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery (CNZARD), the School of Music and the Dance Studies Programme.