Portrait series by Catherine Opie during Queer History Month
The exhibition It's About Time features a series of photographic portraits by Catherine Opie, consisting of the works Idexa, Frankie, Justin Bond, and Crystal Mason. In this series, Opie portrays the Californian LGBTIQ+ community. Opie's portraits are part of IHLIA Queer History Month 2026. The exhibition also features work by other artists that focuses on LGBTIQ+ histories and perspectives.
American photographer Catherine Opie (Sandusky, 1961) portrays the LGBTIQ+ community in a unique way: boldly, with the majesty of state portraits, but at the same time intimate and personal. The subjects, queer communities, and transgender people who have historically been underrepresented and often less explicitly visible in art, are thus given their own platform and voice. Opie's intimate and sometimes direct portraits reveal the layers of gender and self-expression beyond traditional gender norms. The work creates space for ways in which people can make themselves visible on their own terms.
It’s About Time
The works Idexa (1993), Frankie (1995), Justin Bond (1993), and Crystal Mason (1994) are on display in the exhibition It’s About Time. This exhibition presents a transhistorical selection of works from the museum's own collection. Opie's photographic work forms a dialogue with seventeenth-century paintings and artworks from different parts of the world. It's About Time shows that time is a multifaceted and fluid concept.
Other LGBTIQ+ perspectives in the museum
We are currently also exhibiting work by other artists with connections to the LGBTIQ+ community. For example, a sculpture by Frederik Engel Jeltsema, titled Borstbeeld J.A. Feith (ca. 1961), can be admired in Wie schrijft geschiedenis?. Iris Kensmil's mural Respect Yourself, Express (2025) in Hip Hop Is also features portraits of queer artists Melissa Sesselaar (Niva) and Jaylah Ji'mya Hickmon (Doechii).
About Queer History Month
Queer History Month will be organized for the sixth time in the Netherlands in March 2026. IHLIA, the leading LGBTIQ+ heritage organization in the Netherlands with the largest LGBTIQ + collection in Europe, and other cultural institutions collaborate each year on this platform, which focuses on celebrating and passing on queer histories and stories.