Polished Surface : an art history study of consumption and beauty in the world of Nadia Lee Cohen

This essay explores the photographic works of contemporary artist Nadia Lee Cohen with focus on how her photographs connect to a world constantly characterized by consumption. It examines how consumption and beauty are visually constructed and interviewed in her imagery. The aim is to answer questions on the theme of how beauty is used as a resource in Nadia Lee Cohen's work and how this resource relates to consumption in a broader context and social structures. It is also in interest to understand how consumption affects our physical appearance and how that exterior itself in Nadia Lee Cohen's images. How consumption reflects on identity in the artworks is also essential to the study. To reach the answers a semiotic analysis of three selected works from Nadia Lee Cohen's artbook Women from 2020. In this analysis the three photographic works will be referred to as Kvinna i landskap (Fig.1), Kvinnor i rum (Fig. 2) and Kvinnor i lila och grönt (Fig. 3). The pictures have been chosen due their engagement with the chosen themes, such as beauty and consumption. This essay will investigate and describe how Cohen's works can be understood and described through the underlying theme of consumer culture and beauty.