Nadia Shira Cohen was born in Boston in 1977, with a great curiosity for the world and the unknown. Nadia’s creativity was first nurtured by her parents and in an alternative educative environment. At the age of 15 Nadia was diagnosed with cancer. At the same time she took up photography and received her first camera. Documenting her physical transformation in self-portraits along with images of fellow sick friends helped to battle her way through the long two years of treatment. She continued to pursue her passion for photography at the university of Vermont, with a semester abroad at SACI in Florence, Italy. Her curious nature led her into photojournalism, working as a stringer in New York City for the Associated Press. With a desire to understand the underworld of the photojournalism industry, Nadia began working for Sipa press before moving onto the world renowned photo agency, VII, working with some of the worlds most talented and compassionate photojournalists. Feeling the need to return to her own work she began to work freelance, mostly on self-initiated reportage. Since 2007 Nadia has been based in Rome, Italy where she continues with a creative spirit, to tell stories of the lives of people who interest her and which she compassionately feels the need to expose, working across many nations, cultures and themes.
She is a correspondent of the New York Times and works frequently with other publications such as National Geographic, Harpers, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross. Nadia is an International Women’s Media Foundation Adelante Fellow for her work in El Salvador and a Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting Grant recipient for her work on Gold Mining in Romania. Her work has been exhibited in Charleroi, Rome, Foligno, Foiano, Mexico City, Moscow, Washington DC as well as most recently in Lodi at the Ethical Photography Festival for her work on Indigenous Land Rights in Brazil.
