Area, New York City, 1989 by Maxi Cohen.

  • Courtesy of the artist
  • Area, New York City, 1989 by Maxi Cohen.

Last month, two of Maxi Cohen’s photographs were included in a group show at Gallery 110. They were quiet, but they stuck with me. When I looked up Cohen, I discovered that the New York artist has been photographing in ladies’ rooms for more than 30 years, from Bombay to the Australian Outback to the Rainbow Room in New York.

Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...