Nadia Lee Cohen channels the spectacle of pop culture, turning everyday consumer tropes into cinematic vignettes. She taps into cinema, slick ads, and the saturated corners of malls, then loops that imagery back through magazine covers, music videos, and social media. Each cycle layers critique, commentary, and a dash of mass appeal.
Her earliest experiments took place on a rural English farm, where her parents helped build makeshift sets in the garage. A move to Los Angeles revealed a Boulevard far from the Hollywood dream—tawdry shops and faded fantasies that she recast into surreal, character-driven tableaux. Her visuals toe the line between desire and dread, capturing the thrills and the unnerving edges of urban life.
In 2020, she released Women through IDEA, a monograph six years in the making, featuring 100 never-before-seen portraits. Immediate buzz followed: all 5,000 copies sold out in three days across multiple print runs.
As a director, she’s collaborated with Beyoncé, Tyler the Creator, Lana Del Rey, A$AP Rocky, and Katy Perry, earning nods from Cannes Lions, the VMAs, SXSW, Berlin Film Festival, and Rolling Stone. Her commercial credits include Balenciaga, YSL, MAC, Maison Margiela, Adidas, Schiaparelli, Gucci, and Valentino. On the photography front, she’s captured Billie Jean King, Pamela Anderson, Kim Kardashian, and Sophia Loren—an eclectic roster that speaks to her fixation on icons, quirks, and the space in between.
