August 15: The Surreal Life Of Nadia Lee Cohen
The Surreal Life of Nadia Lee Cohen
Your lens to the internet's most powerful photographs.
 📸For Your 👀 Only:  Nadia Lee Cohen Nadia Lee Cohen's images from her project 100 Women are weird and unnerving in the best possible way, with people (often herself) portrayed in scenes that feel like you've just stumbled into a mannequin reenactment of a Coen brothers film. As fun as the images are, Cohen's photos also offer up sharp commentary on censorship and the societal expectations of women. The British photographer, who has made LA her home since 2015, also works with commercial clients such as Kim Kardashian, Gucci, and the Playboy Mansion.
It feels like all the women in your photos are caught in the middle of some melodrama — do you build out backstories when building scenes?
Yes, I find it personally more interesting and fulfilling when images have a narrative element or backstory, whether that is documentary or staged fiction. The intention is that they feel like paused moments from fictitious films. Similarly to an actor, the model acts out the character previously imagined, which is often different to how they present themselves in everyday life.  Nadia Lee Cohen How did you get started in photography?
I should start making this up, because it really isn't that interesting; I enrolled on a course at the London College of Fashion called "Fashion portfolio," which is essentially a little bit of everything until you eliminate certain subjects and are left with whatever you're not that shit at. The two subjects that interested me the most and I had left following elimination were "styling" and "photography." One day my tutor turned to me and said "OK, pick one of the two because you can't do both," so I picked photography and that was that.
Why photography, and not full films?
Do you feel like you've made it? And what do you still want to accomplish?
I don't think you can ever declare yourself as having "made it" and if you did, I probably wouldn't want to hang around with you. There is so much I want to do and it panics me on a daily basis that I might not get it all out before I'm six feet under. What I do believe is that a true artist is never bored, never finished and never satisfied: You will most probably spend your life in constant strife until you are dead. Feeling accomplished or having "made it," to me, means you may perhaps not be as hungry for whatever made you passionate about working in the first place, and that tends to be when the work suffers. That being said, where is my MET invite?  Nadia Lee Cohen What's the weirdest part of LA culture / US culture to you?
Mainly the culture difference with the UK. People are happy, strangers smile at you and ask how you are with superficial sincerity — if this were to happen at Greggs on a Monday morning, you might suspect the optimist as a sex offender and slowly edge yourself away. Americans have an expert natural inbuilt ability to make small talk with such optimism; I am envious of these skills as I lack them greatly and British pessimism prevails. I'd also like to take this opportunity to speak about the price of fruit. It's actually outrageous — can you imagine getting to the checkout at Tesco and someone trying to charge you 14 pounds for a punnet of cherries? It might make the local headlines.
What are five adjectives that you think make a Nadia Lee Cohen photo?
Oh no, I'm struggling to even think of one, plus I imagine answering this question and then cringing at my answer in a few years' time. Perhaps you can do it for me instead? [Editor's note: we chose cinematic, surreal, retro, sultry and original.]
What would your Barbie theme be?
I have consulted my close friend and Barbie enthusiast and she has confirmed that I am indeed "Fashion Police Barbie."  Nadia Lee Cohen  📸MORE FROM OUR DESK 📸 As always, here are some of the best photo stories from around the internet, and what we loved from our desk. THESE WOMEN FINALLY MADE IT INTO THE MET  Ilse Bing PEOPLE HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THIS HERD OF ELEPHANTS  Getty Images THE DEVASTATING WILDFIRES IN GREECE  Nicolas Economou / Reuters SOME HOPE  Getty Images A Bornean orangutan called Suli holds its newborn baby at their enclosure at the Bioparc zoological park in Fuengirola, Spain, on August 12, 2021. "We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us." — Ralph Hattersley That's it for this week! Kate, Kirsten + Pia
📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by the News Photo team. Kate Bubacz is the photo director based in New York and loves dogs. Pia Peterson is a photo editor based in Brooklyn. You can always reach us here.
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