The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2026

A vertically oriented print depicts four photographs in a two-by-two grid. Each shows the bare back of a person with short brown hair facing away. Carved into their skin is a stick-figure drawing of two people, a house, and a cloud. Across the frames, deep red blood progressively drips from the cuts. An ornamental tattoo wraps the upper right arm against a vibrant green, damask-patterned background.

Self-Portrait/Cutting Contact Sheet

2003, printed 2024

Catherine Opie

(American, b. 1961)
America
pigment print
Image: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2024.39
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Opie is originally from Sandusky, Ohio.

Description

Self-Portrait/Cutting is one of Opie’s most iconic, and best known, works. Opie positions her back to the camera. Carved into it is a child-like picture showing two skirted stick figures holding hands, with a house and clouded sun behind them. Opie created the portrait after a failed relationship, her body literally marked with the pain and trauma she was feeling. The contrast between the idyllic, child-like drawing of domestic bliss and the method of its creation is intentionally exquisitely revealing and excruciating. Opie has included a series of four images in the format of a contact sheet, thus creating a conceptual window into her studio process.
  • {{cite web|title=Self-Portrait/Cutting Contact Sheet|url=false|author=Catherine Opie|year=2003, printed 2024|access-date=30 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.39