Shelby Sharie Cohen — Résumé

Career Highlights

  • 2024 – Archives acquired by The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, University of Minnesota

  • 2022 – Featured in Radical Desire: Making On Our Backs Magazine, Hirshland Gallery, Cornell University

  • 2022 – Awarded Portrait of the Year, Nevada County Camera Club (“Newborn Four Days Old”)

  • 2021–2023 – Featured in Swann Auction Galleries’ LGBTQ+ Art sales

  • 2021On Our Backs cover photography featured at Cornell University

  • 2021 – Awarded Center for Cultural Innovation Grant, Los Angeles, CA

  • 1997 – Featured in Nothing But the Girl: The Blatant Lesbian Image (Cleis Press)

  • 1997 – Lambda Literary Award & Firecracker Award for Nothing But the Girl

  • 1986 – Contributing Photographer, Gay Games (with On Our Backs)

  • 1985–1989 – Contributor, On Our Backs Magazine

  • 1985–1996 – Staff Photographer, Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco, CA

  • 1984 – Graduated, Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA

Selected Exhibitions

  • 2024A Celebration of Water, Granucci Gallery, Grass Valley, CA

  • 2024Wild and Scenic Art Exhibition, Granucci Gallery, Grass Valley, CA

  • 2023Indigifest, Rama Institute, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2022Radical Desire: Making On Our Backs Magazine, Cornell University, Hirshland Gallery, Ithaca, NY

  • 2021Raw Anatomy, Tom of Finland Foundation, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2020 – Nevada County Camera Club, Group Exhibitions & Awards, Nevada City, CA

  • 2019LGBTQ Historical Photographs, San Francisco Public Library

  • 2010Fabled Asp, San Francisco Public Library

  • 2001Dance Graduates Exhibit, Mills College, Oakland, CA

  • 1987–1998 – Exhibitions, San Jose Repertory Theatre, San Jose, CA

  • 1983–1996 – Exhibitions, Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco, CA

  • 1985 – Academy of Art University Graduation Show, San Francisco, CA

Auctions

  • 2023 – Swann Auction Galleries, NY – LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History (Lots 284–286)

  • 2022 – Swann Auction Galleries, NY – LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History (Lots 346–348)

  • 2021 – Swann Auction Galleries, NY – LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History (Lots 178–180)

Awards

  • 2022 – Portrait of the Year, Nevada County Camera Club (“Newborn Four Days Old”)

  • 2021 – Center for Cultural Innovation Grant, Los Angeles, CA

  • 1997 – Lambda Literary Award, Nothing But the Girl

  • 1997 – Firecracker Award, Nothing But the Girl

Selected Publications & Features

  • Nothing But the Girl: The Blatant Lesbian Image (First ed. 1996, Second ed. 1998) — Includes self-portrait Live to Ride, two-page spread with Catherine Opie

  • On Our Backs Magazine (1985–1989) — Multiple covers and features

  • Spectator Magazine, Oakland, CA (Dec 1996)

  • Coverage in: The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sentinel, Coming Up, East Bay Times, San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco Examiner (1986–1996)

Collections

  • Cornell University Library, Human Sexuality Collection, Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections, Ithaca, NY

  • San Francisco Public Library, James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, San Francisco, CA

  • Leather Archives & Museum, Chicago, IL

  • The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, University of Minnesota

  • Private collections including Lisbet Tellefsen, Christa Hillhouse, Skeeter Barker, and othersShelby Sharie Cohen — CV


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