those were assigned retroactively and approxi-
mately while working on her book No Man’s
Land(2001) in order to create a traditional chro-
nology. Unlike many photographers, Cohen does
not work on series in the conventional sense.
Rather, she collects images in a long-term accumu-
lative process. Her images are titled with the type of
space depicted (e.g., Police School, Observation
Room,Library, andWar Game). She photographs
these rooms as she gains access to them, often a
complicated and protracted process, particularly
with the institutional spaces. She pursues photo-
graphing a type of room as long as her interest
remains high, which is often decades. While her
photographs are dependent on found, actual things
in the world, Cohen is hardly a strict documentar-
ian—collectively, the images are placeless, timeless,
and un-situated in any real-world context.
Cohen began her photographic work in black
and white and did not begin to make color pictures
until the late 1990s. Her early prints were contact
printed at the size of the negative, encouraging an
intimate viewing experience. In the mid-1980s, she
began to enlarge the images, initially to 16 20
inches and later as large as 3040 and 40 50
inches. She decided early in her career to closely
control the framing of her work, thus avoiding the
possibility of a gallery or museum framing her
photographs with materials that did not reinforce
interpretive possibilities. From this point forward,
Cohen framed her black-and-white pictures with
colored Formica frames as a way of introducing a
set of associations carried by color into a particular
black-and-white scene. The use of Formica, an
inexpensive plastic laminate popular in home and
institutional decorating since the 1950s, gives a
tactile presence to many of the surfaces depicted
within the flat plane of the photograph. Cohen uses
the same material to frame her color photographs,
using a more limited palette of grays.
Initially arriving in Canada to teach, Cohen is
considered one of that country’s leading photogra-
phers. She has taught at universities and art schools
in both countries for as long as she has worked as a
photographer and held numerous artist residencies
and workshops which have extended her interna-
tional influence. Cohen’s pictures are not rooted in
any one nation, but in the modern human experience.
LauraKlegerSeealso:Photography in CanadaBiography
Born in Racine, Wisconsin, 3 July 1944. Attended Univer-
sity of Wisconsin, Madison, 1962–64, 1965–67, B.S. in
Fine Arts and Art Education, 1967; Slade School of Art,
University of London, England, 1964–65; Eastern Michi-
gan University, Ypsilanti, M.A., 1969. Taught at Eastern
Michigan University, Ypsilanti, 1969–73; School of the
Art Institute of Chicago, 1984; University of Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada, 1974–present. Artist in Residence,
Light Work, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York,
1988, 1995; Centre d’Art Contemporain de Gue ́rigny,
France, 1991; Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux,
France, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999; Ecole des Beaux-Arts
de Paris, France, 1993; Ecole Nationale de la photogra-
phie, Arles, France, 1995; Nova Scotia College of Art
and Design, 1996; Wexner Center for the Arts, Colum-
bus, Ohio, 1996; Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerp,
Belgium, 1998; Academie Sint Joost, Breda, Netherlands,
1999, 2000; Nationaal Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kun-
sten, Antwerp, Belgium, 2000, 2001, 2002; Bemis Center
for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska, 2001; Inter-
nationalen Sommerakademie fu ̈r Bildene Kunst, Salz-
burg, Vienna, 2002, 2004. Awards received include:
Logan Award, Art Institute of Chicago 1967; Ontario
Arts Council, various awards, 1978–94; Canada Council,
various awards, 1975–2003; Ontario Arts Council Senior
Arts Grant, 1985, 1993, 2001; Canada Council Senior
Arts Grant, 1986, 1989, 1997, 2002; Canada Council
Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award, 1991; National
Magazine Awards, Canada, Gold award, 2001. Resides
in Montre ́al, Canada.Individual Exhibitions
1973 A Space Gallery; Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1975 ASA Gallery, University of New Mexico; Albuquerque,
New MexicoYajima Gallery; Montre ́al, Que ́bec, Canada
1978 Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, Harvard University;
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Futuric Scientific Place and Other Spaces; Interna-
tional Center of Photography; New York
1979 Lynne Cohen; Light Work Gallery; Syracuse, New York
1983 Brown University; Providence, Rhode Island
1984 Nonfictions; Nova Scotia College of Art and Design;
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
1986 Matters of Fact; Gallery 49thParallel; New York
1988 Art Gallery of Windsor; Windsor, Ontario, Canada,
Galerie Samia Saouma; Paris, France
Interim Art; London, England
1989 Museum fu ̈r Gestaltung; Zurich, Switzerland
OccupiedTerritory; Art 45; Montre ́al, Que ́bec, Canada
Sweger Konst; Stockholm, Sweden
1990 D’un art l’autre; Galerie Samia Saouma; Paris, France
Galerie Gokelaere & Janssen; Brussels, BelgiumCOHEN, LYNNE