Nadia Lee Cohen Becomes the Subject in Podunk, a Dreamlike Study of Domestic America

Last year, the artist and photographer Nadia Lee Cohen released Holy Ohio, a series that chronicled a visit to her extended family in the Rust Belt state. The images emphasized a grittiness alive within America’s rural towns, turning the camera toward less-than-glamorous people and themes that are often overlooked. Cohen returns to the subject of American hinterland with a new photo book—but this time, she’s passing the lens to a friend in order to emerge in front of the camera.

ポダン or Podunk by photographer Scarlett Carlos Clarke places Cohen in Lancaster, California. Cohen wears tiny bloomers inside a dilapidated house with a floral sofa, paint peeling off the wood panels. While Clarke has explored motherhood through her work in the past, Podunk is less explicit in its sense of relationships. Are these Cohen’s siblings? Her kids? It’s unclear, though Cohen has her own idea.

“It’s not really defined as to whether I’m the mother, the aunt, the older sister, or whatever, but there’s a matriarchal and maternal element to the whole thing that is quite soft,” she tells W over e-mail. Cohen’s own maternity has become a major inspiration in her work, and Podunk allows her to imagine a world in which Cohen takes on a similar, nurturing role. “I’m not a mother yet, but Scarlett wanted to imagine a life where I had done the same as her at the same time.”

Podunk seems set within a time warp. The children look like they’ve always been there and always will be there, as much a part of the landscape as the muddy plains that surround them. Cohen’s use of a Super 8 camera adds to that timeless quality. This could be a scene from the ’50s, ’70s, or modern-day.

And while Podunk is an expression of Americana, Cohen gave it a Japanese name. “I’d had it written down for ages and it felt right for this,” she says. The duo is also opting to launch it in Tokyo. The comb-bound book with 128 pages of images will be available on Friday at Dover Street Market Ginza, with an online release to follow.

Scarlett, you often explore themes of domestic life in your work. Why do you think you revisit this idea?

SCC: The tension and complexity within a family has always interested me. It’s something I’ve been more so drawn to since having kids. Maybe also because I’m an only child and love the idea of a big family.

You two have worked together multiple times in the past. What keeps drawing you to one another?

NLC: Continual friendship and trust. I like seeing the way she sees me and I think/hope that’s vice-versa. Is it, Scarlett?

SCC: Yeah, I think it’s such a natural interaction. It never feels like work. I remember you were quite pissed off that day and I think that’s when you get the best pictures sometimes: when everyone’s tired and has had enough.

How do you ensure that you’ll continue to grow and evolve with each collaboration?

SCC: Over time, when you really know someone, there’s a trust there. You start to strip everything back. That’s what I’m trying to do more and more: less faffing.

NLC: Yeah, we probably go more with our guts and don’t overthink every little decision. We tend to agree on almost everything and have a mutual panic about the things that might be cringe. It used to take ages to get anything out there, but I’m learning to be less precious and treat each thing as a chapter.

Nadia, as a photographer yourself, is it difficult for you to give up control when you're in front of the camera?

NLC: It depends on who it is. If it’s a Getty photographer, absolutely fucking right. Did you see that intentionally harsh, evil lighting at the Vanity Fair Oscars after party? If it’s Scarlett or another artist I trust, then I can let go and am usually excited to see myself in a way that I could never achieve.

Scarlett, is it easier to work with a model who is also a photographer or more difficult? Is Nadia ever a backseat photographer?

NLC: Say no to that. And take the next left.

SCC: You’re not a backseat anything.

Explain your choice to give the book a Japanese title and launch it in Tokyo.

NLC: There’s something ominous about Scarlett’s work that I think must have been passed down to her from her father, [British photographer Robert Carlos Clarke], which I’m really drawn to. The footage from this film felt like one of those incredibly dull but beautiful black-and-white art movies that you’re supposed to show off that you’ve watched. Particularly Onibaba because of the grass, the landscape, the characters. It’s a Japanese movie about women fighting to survive while men are away at war. There was a parallel matriarchal theme—so that’s the crux of it. Plus, who doesn’t want an excuse to go to Japan?

SCC: This was just an excuse for you to go to Japan, wasn’t it?