in 2002, she was a fellow at akademie schloss solitude in stuttgart, germany. it was in germany she became interested in the trabant, a common car in east germany during the cold war. this interest would go on to inform her work, including the "bodywork" project. in 2004, cohen moved to phoenix, arizona to be closer to her mother and to focus her efforts on learning about cars and car culture at "elwood body works," studying under mechanic bill cherry"."