cohen graduated with a dual major in 1996, she has a bfa degree in studio art from the school of the museum of fine arts and a ba degree in philosophy from tufts university. at the school of the museum of fine arts, cohen studied with photographer bill burke. after graduating in 1996, she travelled to panama and documented transgendered sex workers, she eventually formed relationships with her subjects and started dressing up and performing, blurring the relationship between documentation and performance.