WEBVTT 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:12.140 [Catherine Opie: Sandusky, Ohio] 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:17.419 I grew up in Sandusky, Ohio-- 00:00:17.419 --> 00:00:19.220 long-time family roots there-- 00:00:19.220 --> 00:00:20.890 and we left when I was thirteen 00:00:20.890 --> 00:00:22.430 to move to Poway, California. 00:00:24.360 --> 00:00:25.760 I know, isn't that amazing? 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:27.720 Look at that, with Con Agra. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:29.620 It's such a great plant. 00:00:29.630 --> 00:00:31.859 ...hello car, I see you... 00:00:31.859 --> 00:00:34.999 But I love the piles of coal. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:44.320 The kind of wandering I'm doing today 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:45.960 is like looking at that kind of 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:48.460 fine art Americana image. 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:53.700 Juxtaposition. 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:55.500 Signage is always good. 00:00:56.120 --> 00:00:58.720 Like, seeing the leprechaun, [LAUGHS] 00:00:58.729 --> 00:01:00.930 with the fish fry sign. 00:01:02.780 --> 00:01:03.360 [camera shutter clicks] 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:10.100 Sometimes I'll see a group of kids 00:01:10.100 --> 00:01:12.899 that I'll ask if I can do a portrait of them, but... 00:01:12.899 --> 00:01:13.369 rarely. 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:15.360 Okay, ready? 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:16.220 [camera shutter clicks] 00:01:16.720 --> 00:01:18.600 Okay, now a regular portrait, okay? 00:01:18.600 --> 00:01:20.520 Just standing there. Like that. 00:01:20.520 --> 00:01:21.840 Yeah, that's good. 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:22.580 [camera shutter clicks] 00:01:23.170 --> 00:01:24.719 Right here, right here with me. 00:01:25.160 --> 00:01:25.580 [camera shutter clicks] 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:26.740 You want your portrait? 00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:27.740 Come here. 00:01:28.999 --> 00:01:30.899 Alright ready? Another one? 00:01:30.899 --> 00:01:33.490 When you're a kid, you're outside all day, and... 00:01:33.490 --> 00:01:35.770 I would just lay for hours in the corn field 00:01:35.770 --> 00:01:37.009 looking up at the sky, 00:01:37.009 --> 00:01:38.990 and spent a lot of time by myself. 00:01:38.990 --> 00:01:40.390 Alright! Where do you guys live? 00:01:41.020 --> 00:01:41.980 [BOY #1] I live in East Market. 00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:43.840 [OPIE] East Market? 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:45.200 [BOY #2] I live on East Washington. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:46.240 [OPIE] Okay! 00:01:55.329 --> 00:01:56.270 It's curious that I end up 00:01:56.270 --> 00:01:58.249 spending so much time by myself 00:01:58.249 --> 00:01:59.829 now, photographing as well, 00:01:59.829 --> 00:02:02.060 because it's very similar to 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:03.799 how I was when I was a kid-- 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:05.999 was, there was a lot of alone time. 00:02:09.259 --> 00:02:10.860 There was a lot of hanging out with friends, 00:02:10.869 --> 00:02:11.900 but also, 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:13.260 I was one of those kids that liked to 00:02:13.260 --> 00:02:15.980 wander off by myself. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.500 So the myth is, there's a silver dollar 00:02:25.170 --> 00:02:26.350 in the cornerstone. 00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:29.000 It's the only thing, like, really left of my... 00:02:29.700 --> 00:02:32.080 my grandfather and my dad's company. 00:02:32.140 --> 00:02:33.820 [INTERVIEWER, OFF CAMERA] They built this building? 00:02:33.940 --> 00:02:34.420 [OPIE] Yeah. 00:02:39.530 --> 00:02:41.830 Going back to Sandusky has been really interesting 00:02:41.830 --> 00:02:43.970 because I've been allowed to 00:02:43.970 --> 00:02:46.750 find this place of joy again, 00:02:46.750 --> 00:02:49.750 where it was really hard for me to be as a kid. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:55.620 Literally, I used the landscape to change 00:02:55.630 --> 00:02:57.730 my emotional state, 00:02:57.730 --> 00:02:59.350 and I think that that, kind of, 00:02:59.350 --> 00:03:00.800 comes up for me 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:04.680 in relationship to often how I photograph a place. 00:03:07.600 --> 00:03:09.950 My father, besides doing O-P Craft, 00:03:09.950 --> 00:03:13.310 he had the largest political campaign collection 00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:14.750 in American history, 00:03:14.750 --> 00:03:16.660 which is all in the Smithsonian now. 00:03:16.660 --> 00:03:19.840 We had this very rare F.D.R. cast-iron bank 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:21.670 where you'd put a penny in the hand 00:03:21.670 --> 00:03:24.110 and it would go into his lap. 00:03:26.570 --> 00:03:29.480 I could be a Daughters of the American Revolution-- 00:03:29.480 --> 00:03:32.240 I could send my paperwork in if I want to. 00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:34.700 We're very patriotic, my family. 00:03:39.480 --> 00:03:41.670 So I grew up with all this 00:03:41.670 --> 00:03:44.740 American memorabilia 00:03:44.740 --> 00:03:46.210 around me as a kid, 00:03:46.210 --> 00:03:47.150 hanging in our house. 00:03:47.150 --> 00:03:49.430 And I think that prevails through my work, 00:03:49.430 --> 00:03:50.820 I mean, that's why it was so odd 00:03:50.820 --> 00:03:52.010 when the Guggenheim named me 00:03:52.010 --> 00:03:53.760 "Catherine Opie, American Photographer." 00:03:53.760 --> 00:03:54.670 It was just like, 00:03:54.670 --> 00:03:55.620 okay, I guess I'm like, 00:03:55.620 --> 00:03:57.340 I might as well just accept this-- 00:03:57.340 --> 00:03:59.380 that this is part of, you know, 00:03:59.380 --> 00:04:02.370 basically what I was taught throughout my childhood 00:04:02.370 --> 00:04:04.100 was, like, how important it is 00:04:04.100 --> 00:04:06.040 being an American.