This selection of twenty black-and-white images demonstrates the range of Cohen's work and illustrates the diversity of activities and experiences of lesbians in the San Francisco Bay Area. The photos show a sex- and body-positivity that was influential within the community as a result of her work's exposure through On Our Backs, the Bay Area Reporter and other publications. Cohen was one of the only photographers at the time who was also involved with the beginning of the global lesbian leather movement that started in San Francisco in the 1980s and 1990s.

Shelby Sharie Cohen (nee Shari Cohen) was born on March 27, 1959. She is a self-described butch lesbian self-portrait artist and photographer. Her work documents San Francisco's lesbian, BDSM, erotic and queer communities during the feminist sex wars and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s.

20 Photographic Prints (11-inches x 14-inches)

Copyright retained by Shelby Cohen. Fair use permitted.

The collection is open for research during Photo Desk hours: Tuesdays 1-5 pm, Thursdays 1-5 pm, and Saturdays 10-12 noon and 1-5 pm.