Ladies Rooms

Around the
World

Maxi Cohen Studio

31 Greene St.
New York, NY 10013
Studio +1 212 925 0295
www.maxicohenstudio.com
Press
Dominick Banks
dominick@maxicohenstudio.com
Mobile +1 312 523

For more than two decades, Maxi Cohen has been photographing and filming
in Ladies Rooms Around the World, from the Australian aboriginal outback
to Zambian discos, the Cannes Film Festival to New York and Tel Aviv, from
Rio to Bombay.
Ladies Rooms Around the World observes and communicates the power of
women in a domain that is at once familiar yet new within the artists
perspective. The series maintains a head on, postcard-shot style, with Cohen
implicating herself in the moment of that private ritual within that safe haven,
in some cases the only place of refuge for women.
The series began in 1978 while Cohen was at the Miami Film Festival, where
her first feature documentary Joe and Maxi was nominated for an award.
Having lost interest in the festival, she found herself retreating to the
restroom. It was there among the great dames of Miami in lavish gowns and
dazzling jewels that Cohen snapped the first photo that led to Ladies Rooms
Around the World.
From there, Cohen continued to photograph, and eventually film, in ladies
rooms she happened to visit in the course of her life, where she was inspired
by beauty or the story she found herself in. The result of this endeavor
includes photographs (large format as well as small), a film, book and
multimedia installations intended for exhibition. The film, which celebrates
women and advocates for their rights, premiered at the So Paulo Biennial
last year. As Cohen continues the project, it is in some way an oblique
autobiography, a way to know the artist and the culture by the location of the
bathrooms she has shot.
Maxi Cohen (b. 1949 Vineland, New Jersey) studied at New York University
where she holds and B.A. and M.A. in film. Cohen is an award-winning artist
and filmmaker based in New York City. Her films, photographs and
multimedia installations have been exhibited internationally and are in the
permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Museum of
Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum for American Art, New York;
the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and the
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Her films have played in movie theaters,
film festivals and television around the world. Cohen lives and works in
Soho, New York. For further information on Maxi Cohen and to view more

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