Artists directory

Esther

Cohen

My practice explores the unseen connections between landscape, domestic life and the built environment, revealing the extraordinary within the familiar through drawing, photography, digital photomontage, ceramics and collage. Living and working on the south-east coast of central Scotland, I use the landscapes around me as a starting point for an experimental studio practice grounded in observation, transformation and making. Working from my own photographs and drawings, I use making as a process of discovery. Through layering, juxtaposition and repetition, I transform visual fragments into new compositions where unexpected relationships emerge. Rather than documenting the landscape, I reimagine it, allowing ordinary objects to become part of it and familiar places to shift in meaning. I am interested in how places are shaped not only by geography but also by memory, human activity and the objects that inhabit our everyday lives. By relocating commonplace domestic forms within the landscape, I explore where the boundaries between the domestic, the industrial and the natural begin to dissolve. Recurring motifs, particularly the light switch, have become key visual devices within my ongoing Electric Landscapes series. More than symbols of domestic life, they suggest unseen systems of energy, connection and transformation, introducing moments of surprise, ambiguity and recognition. Across all the media I work in, I create work that invites viewers to pause, look again and discover new narratives within landscapes they may already know.

Disciplines: Collage

Location: Edinburgh

Materials: Assemblage, Casting, Objects, Paper, Paper Cutting, Pastel, Pencil, Photomontage

https://www.instagram.com/esthercohenartist/

https://www.instagram.com/cooriebothyshoppie/

https://www.facebook.com/esthercohenvisualart/

My practice explores the unseen connections between landscape, domestic life and the built environment, revealing the extraordinary within the familiar through drawing, photography, digital photomontage, ceramics and collage. Living and working on the south-east coast of central Scotland, I use the landscapes around me as a starting point for an experimental studio practice grounded in observation, transformation and making. Working from my own photographs and drawings, I use making as a process of discovery. Through layering, juxtaposition and repetition, I transform visual fragments into new compositions where unexpected relationships emerge. Rather than documenting the landscape, I reimagine it, allowing ordinary objects to become part of it and familiar places to shift in meaning. I am interested in how places are shaped not only by geography but also by memory, human activity and the objects that inhabit our everyday lives. By relocating commonplace domestic forms within the landscape, I explore where the boundaries between the domestic, the industrial and the natural begin to dissolve. Recurring motifs, particularly the light switch, have become key visual devices within my ongoing Electric Landscapes series. More than symbols of domestic life, they suggest unseen systems of energy, connection and transformation, introducing moments of surprise, ambiguity and recognition. Across all the media I work in, I create work that invites viewers to pause, look again and discover new narratives within landscapes they may already know.

Previous Experience

Electric Landscapes began in 2020, when Switch – Torness was selected as the cover image for FLOW, Visual Art Scotland’s online exhibition. Since then, Fridge Fusion was chosen for the inaugural Scottish Landscape Awards Exhibition in 2023, and both Fridge Fusion and Coal Fired were selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2024. Most recently, The Two Dolly’s was selected for the Society of Scottish Artists 127th Annual Exhibition, 2025. Alongside my studio-based practice, I run a regular stall at the historic Tron Kirk Market on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, where I sell work from my popular Bothy series under the name Coorie Bothy Shoppie. The work has featured in magazine articles and continues to be very popular with both tourists and locals. Esther works at Albion Studios in Leith, Edinburgh.

Collections

Ceramic Tiles

Electric Landscapes

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