Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Cohen was educated in printmaking and sculpture in Madison, Wisconsin, and in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. 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 (1968-1973), Algonquin College (1973-1975), and the University of Ottawa (1974-2005). 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 (1987) and No Man's Land (2001).
BORN
1944 Eberswalde, Germany
EDUCATION
1973-76 Kunstakademie Dusseldorf
1976-82 Photography with Bernd & Hilla Becher
In her photography Höfer turns towards architectural situations, which presumably influence, and are influenced by the public. The artist's preferred subject is interiors, but she avoids purely private rooms. The viewer becomes aware of the public character and the functionality of waiting rooms, libraries and museums, even though, or perhaps because there are no people (with few exceptions).
- a link to an interview with the artist or a review
