Laila Cohen is a freelance photographer and art director raised in Amsterdam in an artist family by a Dutch mother and a Jewish Moroccan father.
Her work is grounded in lived experience and shaped through a personal lens, blending intimacy with creative interpretation. With a strong focus on identity, heritage, and relationality, she creates work that explores the layered experience of being human across both personal projects and commissioned work.
Laila’s visual language extends beyond photography. She often integrates set design, material choices, and color theory to build immersive, imagined environments. Her art direction shapes cohesive visual worlds tailored to subject or concept.She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2013, during which she interned with Annie Leibovitz and Ryan McGinley in New York. Laila’s work has appeared in Metal Magazine, Neu Neu Media, and Office Magazine, and she has collaborated with brands such as Mercedes-Benz AMG, Zalando, and adidas Originals. Her photography has been exhibited in spaces including Hama Gallery, Weserhalle in Berlin, and Pleintheater Amsterdam. She is currently developing a series of personal projects and divides her time between Amsterdam and Paris.