Renowned British photographer and director Nadia Lee Cohen has released her latest photo book 'Holy Ohio,' marking a dramatic departure from her typically polished, surreal imagery. Published by WePresent and distributed by Idea Books, this deeply personal work reconnects Cohen with her extended family in Ohio while offering an unflinching portrait of rural American life. The project represents Cohen's return to earth after years of creating high-fashion shoots, narrative-driven music videos, and collaborating with major celebrities including Tyler, The Creator and Billie Jean King.
Cohen, who was born and raised on an isolated farm in Essex, England, first visited Ohio in 1999, describing it as her initial introduction to anything overtly American outside of television. This childhood experience left fragmented memories that now serve as the foundation for 'Holy Ohio.' The photographer has built her career on a distinctive visual vernacular that blends American iconography with dreamlike elements, having previously channeled Cindy Sherman in her book 'Hello My Name Is' and created character-driven music videos for artists like A$AP Rocky, The Garden, and Adult Swim.
In 'Holy Ohio,' Cohen deliberately replicates the cheap aesthetic of disposable film cameras to match her own fragmented memories, utilizing deep focus techniques where foreground, middle ground, and background all remain sharp. Her supremely designed photographs focus on the unique charm of American interiors, capturing everything from dusty green carpets and smoke-stained curtains to rooms stacked with rifles. One standout image features a handsome knife decorated with an American flag grip, embodying both cultural history and the implication of violence in a single frame.
The book's confrontational approach extends beyond weaponry to explore the quiet tensions of American life. Cohen blends the mundane with underlying unease, reinventing her own childhood through character study viewed through a Hollywood movie lens. 'I remember the smell of bacon, coffee, or pizza depending on the time of day,' Cohen recalls. 'Kids would be running around squealing. The house was very much alive – there was a coziness to the chaos, and I was at the age where I found any kind of dispute or dysfunctionality exciting.'
Designed to physically resemble a Bible, 'Holy Ohio' observes the intricacies of America's rural heartland as well as the quiet temperance of Christian theology that connects the nation. The imagery captures simple rural consumer kitsch, including a sign reading 'waterbeds n stuff,' while another photograph shows two men gazing into the distance as a giant dinosaur looms in the background – a reference to America as something prehistoric, frozen in time or stuck in the past.
Cohen's signature self-inserts appear throughout these carefully imagined scenes, transforming herself into a character that resembles a famous model who got lost in The Buckeye State. However, her typically bombastic and glossy style is deliberately scraped away in this work, revealing what she describes as 'the true rust of memory and heritage.' The photographs frequently show elderly subjects, with dentures laid on tables and rooms that appear preserved at the edge of the century.
Holly Fraser, editor-in-chief of WePresent, describes the work as 'one of Nadia's most personal works to date' while also being 'an unflinching, raw and idiosyncratic portrait of family that we can all relate to.' The project demonstrates Cohen's ability to spin a narrative thread connecting both Western nations – Britain and America – while moving far from the typical British childhood experience she knew growing up on an isolated English farm.
