Miggi & Ilene, Los Angeles, California is part of Domestic (1995-1998), a series in which Catherine Opie travelled across the United States photographing LGBTQ+ families and their homes. The project marked an important shift in her practice. While her earlier portraits often focused on individuals, Domestic explored how home, care and family relationships are created, experienced and sustained.

In the mid-1990s, LGBTQ+ families remained the subject of significant political and cultural debate in the United States. Opie set out to portray something rarely represented in public life: the everyday realities of queer communities shaped by love, intimacy, routine and a sense of home. Rather than photographing people in a studio, she pictured them in their own surroundings, emphasising that family can take many different forms.

This photograph does not depict a dramatic or extraordinary moment. Instead, it captures an everyday scene. By drawing attention to experiences of home, closeness and belonging that many people can recognise, the image invites us to reflect on the different ways families are formed and lived. In doing so, the series encourages a broader understanding of what family can be.