Liz Cohen: Stories Better Told by Others

Liz Cohen, a photographer and performance artist, has received international recognition for her Trabantamino project which includes Rio Grande, Bodywork, Tools and Zwickau Routine series. Over the course of eight years Cohen customized an East German Trabant into an All-American El Camino, implementing hydraulic technology gleaned from the Lowrider culture of her native Southwest. Lowriding, originally developed out of the Pachuo Chicano community, was a homegrown culture of resistance and became a practice of defiance against mainstream America by the people who participated in it.

Cohen’s dedication to the Lowrider culture was rewarded in 2013 when her Trabantimino won the top prize at the Lowrider competition held annually in Espanola N.M.

Now Cohen has turned her focus to the women whose presence on the covers of Lowrider Magazine added to its success for more than 35 years. This new series pays homage to the women themselves with images of the Lowrider magazine covers with the relevant costumes and tools and branding each photograph with the name of the cover model.

Cohen states: “There are stories that are better told by others. In 2015 Lowrider Magazine stopped using models on their cover. The images in Stories Better Told by Others commemorate the Lowrider Magazine cover models that contributed to the aesthetic, style, and attitudes of Lowrider culture.”