Back in February of this year, I was scrolling through the explore page on my Instagram when I came across this photo.
https://www.instagram.com/nadialeelee/
After seeing this photo, I was obsessed with knowing who styled the model, who came up with the idea for this photo, and who took this photo. Luckily for me, social media has made finding information extremely easy.
I discovered that the model in this photo also happens to be the photographer, and her name is Nadia Lee Cohen. She is a fashion filmmaker and photographer from London, England. Most of her work is inspired by past decades and her first trip to LA five years ago, where she has now relocated to. All of her photos have a movie like feel to them, and they also contain an aspect of surrealism. Three movies that have inspired Cohen’s creative aesthetic are The Shining, Gummo, and Pink Flamingos. Her work gives off a sense of comfort but can also be unsettling. Using wigs, makeup, and masks, Cohen transforms her models into unique characters for her mini films and photos. Most of the characters Cohen envisions are based off of people she sees in her everyday life living in LA.
Cohen also enjoys dressing herself up and modelling for her own photos, and short videos. By transforming herself into these characters that she has based off of real people, Cohen feels more connected and empathetic towards them and people like them.
Cohen also has a very unique take on beauty. She embraces the imperfections that people have, and instead of fixing them, she highlights those features. Cohen finds unusual looking people to be the most beautiful. She believes that in the UK unusual features are more embraced than here in the US. Cohen often plays on the unrealistic ideal that women and their beauty should be perfect.
Cohen has also been involved in making music videos for Kali Uchis and DRAM. In addition, she shot an editorial brand campaign video for the Miu Miu AW16 collection.
One of Cohen’s more recent projects is called “Hello My Name Is…” This project is inspired by the people Cohen has met in LA and the name tags she has collected for the past five years. In this shoot, Cohen transforms herself into various characters representing the people she has been inspired by. In addition to the portrait photo, Cohen also collected items that were used for still-life portraits that described the personality of each character.
Here are the portraits and still-lifes Cohen took:
http://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/head/article/41795/1/nadia-lee-cohen-my-name-is
Another project Cohen created is called “A Guide to Indulgence.” This short film is inspired by the idealization of women and beauty. The characters in the film all wear similar looking masks and wigs. The film itself looks like a retro cult movie as a result of the appearance of the props and sets. The narration also sounds like a vintage television advertisement. Overall, the film is ironically showcasing the pressures that women face to be perfect.
One of my favorite short films of Cohen’s is “Operator.” The film has a super cool, vintage look to it, like it was shot on an old tape recorder. In addition, the models are styled in a very retro way, with a lot of inspiration coming from the 1960s and 1970s. Also, the models oddly look very similar, not just because of the wigs. The models’ facial features look very alike, which I find very strange, but intriguing. The audio playing in the film sounds like old recordings of phone calls that had to be passed through an operator first in order to be connected to the person they were calling. I am not sure what this film is supposed to represent, but I find it very interesting and aesthetically pleasing.
Most recently, Cohen made a small series of self-portrait photos for Halloween this year. She dressed herself up and took photos of different costume inspirations. Each year she creates a Halloween series and posts the photos on her Instagram. This year her characters included a losing boxer, an invisible woman, a ballerina, a successful burglar, and a scarecrow.
Overall, Nadia Lee Cohen is a very unique and inspiring fashion filmmaker and photographer. She uses her work to spread messages about beauty in an artistic and intriguing way. Although her work is pretty out there, the incorporation of her messages and imaginations makes her films and photos distinctly her own.
References
Abraham, Amelia. “Nadia Lee Cohen: 'Hello My Name Is...'.” Dazed Beauty, 17 Oct. 2018, www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/head/article/41795/1/nadia-lee-cohen-my-name-is.