Lynch’s Leading Lady:

Nadia Lee Cohen

"I don't know why people expect art to make sense. They accept the fact that life doesn't make sense." David Lynch
Filmmaker and legendary director David Lynch has passed away. He died on the 15th of January in LA, at the age of 78. Despite not having made movies for the last 20 years, an outpour of praise for his cinematic career came from all corners of the public in response to his passing. Especially sorrowed were the artists and creatives who had found so much inspiration in his work. His creativity not only served as a revitalizing vision within cinema, but also as an unapologetic approach that could inspire processes across all visual mediums. He aimed to challenge the seemingly perfect by imagining its flaws, through chaotic narratives that he made interact with ‘normal’ lives and spaces.
Many have compared his films to dreams, and what it feels like to navigate a wrong reality. Lynch himself originally trained as a painter, and often his cinematic work feels closer to audiovisual projects with an ode to theatre, painting, and literature. He was renowned for bending the rules of genre, setting up camp on the borderlines of thriller, drama, horror and romance. His stories feel real but are still so abstract, and this absurdity comes with a confidence and certainty that pretends nothing is out of the ordinary.
Arguably his most iconic movies were that of Wild At Heart, Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man and Lost Highway. But equally popular were his Dune movie adaptations and the tv show Twin Peaks, and it’s following movie Fire Walk With Me. All his movies have a signature visual identity that make it easy to recognize his work. People either love or hate it, the outcome of which often depends on our own preconceptions of cinema and what storytelling should look like. But Lynch undeniably reintroduced surrealism to the cinematic world. 
His subject matter loved to gravitate towards complex characters, often with protagonists of dynamic women with nuanced personalities, navigating a plagued narrative with an authenticity that contrasted the theatrics. His work was connected to its environment of uncanny communities in a way that reflected on our own society, at least through his own eyes. However, it's interesting to consider how someone else in society, for example a woman, can also interpret reflections on reality in an abstract way. One such artist, is none other than Nadia Lee Cohen. Similar to Lynch, she creates signature scenes and landscapes that resemble a similar fascination with dream-like stories. But Cohen adds an extra touch of intimacy and exposure to her work, even though it's a staged performance. Where Lynch focuses on plots, Cohen zooms in further on the psychology of society and its women. Whether its beautiful alien-like ladies or a look of housewife-crazy in the eyes, Cohen freezes the personalities of a twisted reality for further evaluation. She oftentimes places herself in the frame and becomes the very being that her lens studies, navigating her own imaginary world. In a refreshing and unique way, she carries on Lynch's legacy. 
© Nadia Lee Cohen
Anyone that’s seen the work of Nadia Lee Cohen can immediately recognize the signature look of bold skylines encompassing theatrical characters that don’t look quite right. But despite Cohen’s vivid and chromatic world of blondes and red lipstick, she grew up surrounded by the green and brown colours of the English countryside. Raised in a house in-the-middle-of-nowhere, Cohen now searches L.A. for the American Dream and perhaps its subsequent nightmare.  “The US provides a strangeness that is addictive." She shared with It's Nice That. "I am magnetically drawn to the artifice of it all, it repels and exhilarates me simultaneously.” 
© Nadia Lee Cohen
Her work is known worldwide for contributing consistently to the hottest fashion imagery, even though her career has only just started. You’ve probably seen campaigns for Skims and covers for Interview Magazine, as her commercial portfolio keeps expanding. Fashion is a constant and key focus of her visual projects, having been trained at the London College of Fashion, graduating with two degrees. But despite the popularity of her commercial work, some of her proudest visuals lie in her projects Women (2020) and Hello, My Name Is (2021). 

Whilst some photographers learn to balance their commercial assignments with personal projects, Cohen has the astounding ability to cohabit them. Her commercial work is never without the personality that her unique visuals have become known for. She approaches her subjects and stories with an unfaltering conviction similar to that possessed by Lynch, as if their art exists within one world. 
© Nadia Lee Cohen
Both artists work in pursuit to expose the illusion of perfection and the uncomfortable in the familiar. They are both drawn to analyzing the mundane, picking at the threads of the American flag and rewriting the characters of suburbia. Their subject matter of uncanny, theatrical people lit up against a backdrop of Californian palms often evoke the same notions and thoughts in the audience. Perhaps this is because of their similar focus on the monotonous, and their desire to dig deeper. In an interview with Semi Permanent, Cohen explained that as a viewer of a character, she “wants to know things like ‘what breakfast do they like to eat?’ ‘What car do they drive?’ ‘What annoys them?’ Knowing someone’s mundane quirks is far more fascinating.”
© Nadia Lee Cohen
Along with this, Cohen’s own sources of inspiration lie in the world of cinema, having noted before that directors Hitchcock and Kubrick strongly influence her style. In the same interview with Semi Permanent, Cohen explained that’s she’s inspired by “Storytelling generally, anything narrative driven. I like the images to resemble a moment in time, sort of as though a movie's been paused.” Upon announcement of Lynch’s death, Cohen also tributed an Instagram post to him, showing her appreciation for his work and his influence on her cinematic inspirations. When asked what’s next for her, Cohen revealed across multiple interviews that she’s hoping to make a feature film soon. But for now, we highly recommend watching her short film ‘A Guide to Indulgence’, which can be found on our new ‘channel’ section, or you can also watch her most recent advert ‘As Time Goes By’ and try to see if you notice any similarities to the 'Blue Velvet' trailer.
© Nadia Lee Cohen
Furthermore, like Lynch, Cohen approaches the publicity of her work with the desire for it to be interpreted by the viewer. “I don’t want to spell out the feelings or emotions that the viewer should gain from my images,” she said in conversation with It’s Nice That. And in an interview with C41, she said “I am constantly asked what the message is and it really is more fun not to answer. I find that when people contextualise their work too much, it loses the magic and appeal – plus it’s a bit pretentious, isn’t it?” 

It rings similarly to the words of David Lynch, who was a strong advocate for not needing to explain yourself as an artist. Speaking to The Guardian a few years ago, Lynch said that “When you finish anything, people want to talk about it. And I think it’s almost like a crime.” He argued that there’s even a language barrier between art, stating that “The language of film, cinema, is the language it was put into, and the English language – it’s not going to translate. It’s going to lose.”

But Cohen is often prodded to explain the meaning behind her work. Perhaps stemming from its nonsensical tone or from her positioning of women in her photos, many want explanations for her use of nudity, beauty and the feeling of voyeurism. It seems that often, society assumes that female artists must project powerful messaging in one uniform way. Whilst talking with Semi Permanent on the matter, Cohen said “I think it’s obvious I’m a feminist. But I’m not overtly striving to push this or make that statement. I think the images themselves are almost a dreamland. Or some kind of made-up time where women are the only species and escape any politics of today.”
© Nadia Lee Cohen
Perhaps most alluring about both Lynch and Cohen is the way in which they contradict themselves. Any hardcore Lynchian fan knows that despite the structural liberty and mayhem of his films, Lynch himself was a very organised and disciplined man. He ate the same dinner every day and loved a clean space. He advocated for the happy artist, sharing that his creative chaos is best unleashed when there’s calm in his life. He argued for this with his infamous quote: “People might bring up Vincent van Gogh as an example of a painter who did great work, in spite of, or because of, his suffering. I like to think that Van Gogh would have been even more prolific and even greater if he wasn’t so restricted by the things tormenting him. I don’t think it was pain that made him so great, I think painting brought whatever happiness he had.” 

Likewise, Cohen has a background and life that contradicts the narrative chaos and feeling of melancholy and distress in her work. In an interview with 032c Magazine, she said, “I’m drawn to violent cinema yet I’m extremely squeamish. I love chaos but also organization. There’s a ton of those sort of contradictions within me.” She told Semi Permanent, “I work constantly, but I do enjoy it. I like waking up early and feeling like I’m ahead.”
© Nadia Lee Cohen
With their own unique approaches to twisting reality, both Lynch and Cohen's work reflect on the other's in a way that heightens it. Whilst the creative world grieves a fantastic filmmaker, those who feel inspired by the absurdity of Lynch’s films can look to artists like Cohen to carry on a legacy of ludicrous realities. She’s an artist that has an unfaltering consistency to her vision and the world she creates, but often presenting as somewhat of an enigma herself. She doesn't lend much insight into how her internal state leads to her external output, but doesn't that make it all the more intriguing? What I enjoy most about Cohen’s work is her ability to invent, develop and style characters in very staged ways, that still don't feel static. She brings filmmaking to photography and melancholy to society. She puts names to faces and documentation to illusion. She has, at least to me, the potential to resemble an auteur of today’s visual media and photographic scene. Whilst each artist is their own, I look forward to Cohen's first feature film, and how this will surely continue to spur abstract genres in film. 
© Nadia Lee Cohen
For those intrigued by Cohen and Lynch's work, make sure to check out Muzine’s new ‘channel’ section, where we’ll be regularly spotlighting various films and audiovisual media for you to dig into. For those in The Netherlands who want more than a taste-test, we suggest looking into the upcoming screenings of Wild At Heart at the Lantaren Venster cinema in Rotterdam, February 20th and 23rd.