This year, the Henry Art Gallery is bringing ceramicist, collage artist, and fine art photographer (and queer icon) Catherine Opie to speak at its Monsen Photography Lecture. Opie is internationally renowned for her portraiture of the lesbian and gay community in Los Angeles in the 1990s, using traditional techniques with “less traditional” subjects in order to explore gender, sexuality, and family. There’s an unflinching honesty to her photos; she often turns the camera back on herself and her family, conveying an intimacy that isn’t voyeuristic, but thoughtful. Opie’s work isn’t limited to just portraiture, but also includes landscape and cityscape photography that focuses on issues of homelessness and gentrification. by Jas Keimig