Subject Matters

In many instances photography has the ability to visually represent multiple layers of reality. It can denote what the viewer can see, have connotations that represent something else and rely on the information that the audience already knows about the context and subject matter. This representation of collective memory, is often regurgitated to represent a mood, feeling and time that replicates familiar ideas about popular culture, within a postmodernist world. To add to the perception of a mirrored world that reflects social appeal and often nostalgia, the introduction of the recycled celebrity, as subject matter, adds another level of interest that causes viewer’s to stop in their tracks.

Nadia Lee Cohen is a British photographer that capture the aesthetics of vintage imagery, through the use of colour, composition and exaggerated subject material. By amalgamating the best of each, her work appeals to the senses and tastes of the current time, with a twist. As people often look back at the suggested ‘Golden ages’ of time, her work presents this aesthetic, while delivering something new that causes audiences to do a double take. To add to the visual display that her work presents, she has had the opportunity to work with famous faces that naturally draw attention to her work. Her recent shoots featuring Kim Kardashian, demonstrate how meticulous styling, combined with old Hollywood glamour create the perfect mix for powerful imagery that champions the female form in a way that confidently addresses the viewer. The attention to detail and the ability to capture scenarios as though they from another time, allows traditional techniques and appearances to remain visible and relevant in progressing times. The carefully endorsed celebrities, in turn contribute to the revival of artistic movements, by gaining recognition in a modern world and allowing them to thrive.