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| | | image = Liz_Cohen_in_pink.jpg | | | image = Liz_Cohen_in_pink.jpg |
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| − | | caption = <!-- What you want it to say below your picture. --> | + | | caption = at the Elwood Bodyworks |
| | | birth_date = [[Birth Date:=1978-04-01|[[1978-04-01]]]] | | | birth_date = [[Birth Date:=1978-04-01|[[1978-04-01]]]] |
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| − | | occupation = [[NAICS_Code1:=71151]][[NAICS/71|Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers]] | + | | occupation = NAICS Code:[[NAICS_Code1:=71151]] [[NAICS/71|Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers]] |
| | | known = Projects ''Bikini Car Wash'' and ''Bodywork'' | | | known = Projects ''Bikini Car Wash'' and ''Bodywork'' |
| | | contact = [[Phone:=123.456.7890]] | | | contact = [[Phone:=123.456.7890]] |
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| − | '''Liz Cohen''' is an American performance artist currently specializing in an installation art project called ''Bodywork''. | + | '''Liz Cohen''' is an American [[performance art|performance artist]] currently specializing in an [[installation art]] project called ''Bodywork''. This is a long-term exploration of the conversion vehicle / [[lowrider]] culture, as well as the experience of a woman as a custom car model. Cohen is taking an [[East Germany|East German]] compact car called a [[Trabant]] and modifying it so that it will be able to convert by means of hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms into a [[Directory:Chevrolet|Chevy]] [[Directory:Chevrolet/El Camino|El Camino]]. Simultaneously, Cohen is trying to "convert" her own physical body into one worthy of a car-show bikini model. |
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| | + | The artist is working with grant funding for her project from [[Directory:Creative Capital|Creative Capital]], an arts group based in [[Directory:New York City|New York City]].<ref name="Creative Capital">{{cite news|title=Grantee Page: Bodywork-Liz Cohen|publisher=[[Directory:Creative Capital|Creative Capital]]|url=http://channel.creative-capital.org/grantee_198.html|accessdate=2007-04-01}}</ref> |
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| | + | == Background == |
| | + | Cohen grew up in [[Directory:Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], [[Directory:Arizona|Arizona]] as part of a large Colombian immigrant family. When her father died in an automobile accident in [[1990]], she inherited his camera, a [[1968]] [[Directory:Nikon|Nikon]]. Her father was a photography enthusiast, so Cohen felt closer to his memory in taking a photography course in high school.<ref name="Phoenix New Times">{{cite news|last=Irwin|first=Megan|title=Hard Body|publisher=[[Directory:Phoenix New Times|Phoenix New Times]]|date=2006-10-05|url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-10-05/news/hard-body/full|accessdate=2007-04-01}}</ref> |
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| | + | After high school in Scottsdale, she enrolled at [[Directory:Tufts University|Tufts University]] in [[Directory:Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] as an [[economics]] major. Tufts was affiliated with Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and all undergraduates were required to take two art classes, so Cohen enrolled in photography. Her early subjects were crowds of political protesters against [[Directory:George H. W. Bush|the first president Bush]]. Enjoying the process so much, she wound up changing her degree to a dual major in [[philosophy]] and studio art. |
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| | + | After college, Cohen had to decide between pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy or becoming a photographer, and she grabbed her camera and headed to Panama. She spent four years photographing transgendered sex workers along the Panama Canal Zone. Panama was a unique country for Cohen to experience as a Colombian-American, because Panama has been heavily influenced (in many ways adversely) by both Colombia and the United States. She worked on this project for years, going back and forth between Panama City and [[Directory:San Francisco|San Francisco]], where she enrolled in a MFA program at the [[Directory:California College for the Arts|California College for the Arts]]. |
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| | + | == Genesis of ''Bodywork'' == |
| | + | After finishing school in [[2000]], Cohen stayed on as a photography teacher at the college, as well as at the [[Directory:University of California-Berkeley|UC-Berkeley]]. Her interest in lowrider culture began to grow, and in [[2002]], she attended her first lowrider show in [[Directory:Fresno, California|Fresno]], shooting many rolls of film. Her idea of becoming part of a subculture began to take hold. She especially noted that some of the female models posing with each car commanded great respect from the attendees, while others seemed to have no control over the situation as men stuffed dollars in their bikini bottoms. |
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| | + | <blockquote>"I started thinking an interesting way for me to push my documentary practice would be to become part of what I was looking at. I started to think about things I'm just not supposed to be a part of and how I could become a part of it during the process of photographing it. I keyed in on building a car and becoming a lowrider."</blockquote> |
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| | ''Copyrighted material from the [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-10-05/news/hard-body/full Phoenix New Times]. This material will NOT be a permanent fixture in Centiare -- we're merely using it for factual biographical sourcing for a new Directory listing for Liz.'' | | ''Copyrighted material from the [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-10-05/news/hard-body/full Phoenix New Times]. This material will NOT be a permanent fixture in Centiare -- we're merely using it for factual biographical sourcing for a new Directory listing for Liz.'' |
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| | That was two years ago, and she's a year from finishing. | | That was two years ago, and she's a year from finishing. |
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| − | Liz Cohen grew up in Phoenix, a first-generation American in a large Colombian family — though she insists her Latin heritage isn't what will legitimize her in the traditionally Mexican-American lowrider world. Growing up with two sisters (she's the oldest) and subscriptions to teen magazines ("I made collages on my door"), Cohen was far from a tomboy, and certainly had no interest in cars or mechanics.
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| − | When her dad died in a car accident in 1990, she inherited his camera, a 1968 Nikon. Her father loved photography, so Cohen enrolled in a photo class at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale to feel closer to him.
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| − | "It was something about trying to take some roles in the family that my father had," she says. "I really cared about the camera. I knew it was special and I wanted to use it. I wasn't interested in being an artist when I was in high school, and I wasn't a very good photographer at all, I would say."
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| − | By the time she graduated from high school, Cohen, like many other young, creative minds, was ready to get out of the Valley. She enrolled at Tufts University in Boston as an economics major — not exactly the most creative discipline.
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| − | "Becoming an artist was an accident," she says. "I always tell people to discourage your kids because you have to fight to be an artist. You have to be sure you really want to do it."
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| − | Tufts had an affiliation with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and required all undergraduates to take two art classes. Cohen enrolled in photography.
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| − | "George Bush the first was president at the time so I started photographing protests," she says. "I liked what was happening with the camera."
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| − | She liked it so much, she wound up changing her degree to a dual major in philosophy and ethical theory and studio art.
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| − | After college, Cohen was at a crossroads. Forced to decide between pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy or becoming a photographer, Cohen grabbed her camera and headed to Panama. She spent four years photographing transgendered sex workers along the Panama Canal, and found, in a roundabout way, the inspiration for her current work.
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| − | Panama is a country with strong economic ties to the United States and strong cultural ties to Colombia, its closest neighbor. As a first-generation Colombian-American, Cohen says she also felt very connected to the country.
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| − | "I started thinking, 'What are my responsibilities to Latin America as someone who is first generation? And what is the relationship between Latin America and the United States?'" she says. "It's a complicated relationship, and Panama is the perfect spot to look at this because it's a gateway with the canal. Panama's history is super-linked to the United States and it's linked to Colombia, so it's the perfect spot for me."
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| − | Cohen started out wanting to photograph daily life on the military bases near the canal, but quickly found herself bored. In 1996, when she began the project, the U.S. military was in the process of withdrawing troops and preparing to turn control of the canal over to the Panamanian government, an exchange that went through in 1999.
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| − | "I realized it's boring hanging out on military bases, and I realized this is probably what a military base looks like in Japan or anywhere," she says. "I thought, 'Maybe if I pretended I'm Panamanian and dated one of the soldiers, maybe that would be interesting.'"
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| − | So acting on the advice of a friend, Cohen went one Saturday night to a fence near the base, where she'd heard local women who wanted to meet soldiers tried to get dates.
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| − | There were three other people at the fence: a drug dealer, a sex worker and a hot dog vendor. Realizing there was no way the night was going to end well unless she left, Cohen started driving around the Canal Zone — an area of jungle and military bases that fortifies the canal.
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| − | As she cruised the main drag — La Avenida de Cuatro Julio, or Fourth of July Avenue ("Hmm . . . wonder who named the street," she says now, sarcastically) — Cohen passed a group of sex workers. She stopped and realized they were transgendered. They told her they were going through a large economic shift because the bases were closing and most of their clients were American servicemen.
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| − | Cohen pinpoints this conversation as the moment her Panama project came together. The street, which locals call La Avenida de los Martires (Avenue of Martyrs) in honor of university students killed there in the 1970s for taking down an American flag to hang a Panamanian flag, was historically significant. Something about the sex workers changing biological and economic environment, and the place they stood on the historic street, struck a chord with her.
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| − | "I started photographing them all the time," she says. "I started thinking about the price people pay to have acceptance, and I started making a metaphor for that, connecting to the history of Panama. Panama's behavior is kind of like that of a prostitute to the United States, but it gets the things it wanted. Panama is a lot richer than Colombia. There's not a civil war in Panama like there is in Colombia. It's interesting the things you give and the things you take."
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| − | She worked on the project for the next four years, going back and forth between Panama City and San Francisco, where she'd begun her master's of fine arts at the California College for the Arts (formerly the California College of Arts and Crafts). She got to know her subjects extremely well, visiting their homes and spending countless hours on the street with them. Eventually, she realized she had pushed the project as far as possible.
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| − | "Lynette, one of the sex workers, started dressing me up, and I was like, 'Okay, this has gone as far as it can go,'" she says. "What's next? Am I supposed to be inside a room taking pictures of people having sex? The exploration had ended."
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| − | But the experience sparked an idea that would eventually turn into her current project.
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| − | "I started thinking an interesting way for me to push my documentary practice would be to become part of what I was looking at," she says. "I started to think about things I'm just not supposed to be a part of and how I could become a part of it during the process of photographing it. I keyed in on building a car and becoming a lowrider."
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| − | After finishing graduate school in 2000, Cohen stayed in San Francisco, where she worked as a photography teacher at the California College of the Arts, as well as at UC-Berkeley. During this time, her interest in lowrider culture began to grow, though she was still far from wanting to build her own car. In 2002, she traveled to her first lowrider show in Fresno, California. She shot about 10 rolls of film. Her idea of becoming part of a subculture, sparked by Lynette in Panama, began to take on a real shape. She paid particular attention to the models representing each car. It struck her that some women commanded, and got, respect. Others, like a woman she photographed having her bikini bottoms pulled back to have dollar bills stuffed in, had no control over the situation.
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| − | "I remember being excited and curious watching the different ways people manage themselves," she says.
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| | With the idea of building a lowrider and photographically documenting the process now fully formed, Cohen had to overcome one huge obstacle: cost. On her teacher's salary, she was barely able to afford living expenses, let alone a car. When a close friend invited Cohen to do the inaugural show at his gallery Spanganga, she jumped at the opportunity to publicize, and raise money for, her new project. | | With the idea of building a lowrider and photographically documenting the process now fully formed, Cohen had to overcome one huge obstacle: cost. On her teacher's salary, she was barely able to afford living expenses, let alone a car. When a close friend invited Cohen to do the inaugural show at his gallery Spanganga, she jumped at the opportunity to publicize, and raise money for, her new project. |
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| − | One of my friends has recently expanded his reach into entrepreneurial ventures centering on wiki editing and optimization. <ref name="DieWelt">{{cite news|last=Peer|first=Mathias|title=Wikipedia-Artikel, die man kaufen kann|publisher=[[Directory:Die Welt|Die Welt]]|date=2006-08-24|url=http://www.welt.de/data/2006/08/24/1009086.html|accessdate=2007-01-02}}</ref>
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