Recognized for her quintessentially American portraits, the photographer Catherine Opie knows how to pack a political punch. “I wanted to push the whole realm of beauty and elegance,” she said of one of her exhibitions, “but also to make people scared out of their wits.” Some of Opie’s most famous photographs document the dark side of queer culture, and she does not shy away from leather, chains, and S&M. This touring exhibition, now in Edinburgh, was curated in collaboration with the artist and traces 30 years of her career. It is the first major representation of Opie’s work in the U.K. —Elena Clavarino