Lynne Cohen

Who is Lynne Cohen?

Lynne Cohen is an American-Canadian photographer.

Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Cohen was educated in printmaking and sculpture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, and in Ann Arbor and Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan. She studied for a year at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

Cohen has lived and worked in Canada since 1973, initially in Ottawa, and in Montreal since 2005.

She has taught and provided workshops at several institutions, primarily Eastern Michigan University, Algonquin College, and the University of Ottawa. Cohen has exhibited widely and held artist's residencies across North America and Europe.

In 2005, she was the recipient of the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Cohen is known for her photographs of domestic and institutional interior spaces, which have included living rooms, public halls, retirement homes, laboratories, offices, showrooms, shooting ranges, factories, spas, and military installations. Despite this interest in living and working spaces, Cohen's photographs are usually devoid of human presence. She photographs using an 8 x 10" view camera, allowing her to capture great detail, and create very large prints. Her work has been published in catalogues such as Occupied Territory and No Man's Land.