2026 Jane Fortune Outstanding Women Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Liz Cohen

April 23, 2026 | Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hall, Herron School of Art and Design In this talk, artist Liz Cohen shares more than 25 years of making art. Her work looks at how identity, beliefs, and culture shape the way we see and recognize each other. She talks in detail about her famous car project. She bought an old East German Trabant car and turned it into a lowrider that can stretch and move like an American El Camino. She shows how she performed in a bikini while pregnant, operating the car’s hydraulics. She also discusses her current project with a Soviet GAZ 69 vehicle from her family story. She is turning it into a car that serves coffee, with an espresso machine and the ability to shoot coffee grounds from the tailpipe. She explores ideas of being left out, feeling strong as a woman in male spaces like car culture, and finding your place in a divided world. She shares stories from long projects that took years of building, learning new skills, and working with mentors. This event was made possible by the Jane Fortune Outstanding Women Visiting Artist Lecture Series. The series brings well-known women artists to Herron every year. It was established thanks to the support of the late Indiana philanthropist Jane Fortune, who was an author, art historian, and founder of Advancing Women Artists. The series helps lift up women’s voices in art and inspires students. If you like contemporary art, topics like identity and belonging, or how artists build and perform their work, you will enjoy this lecture. Watch the full lecture above. Herron School of Art and Design • Indiana University Indianapolis