What does a "dangerous woman" look like?
After over a decade of rifling through flea market boxes and garage sales, art collector Peter J. Cohen may have the answer. From his search, Cohen ended up with thousands of vintage photographs dating from the early to mid-twentieth century. Many images revealed women riding rodeo horses, sporting men's coats, and slugging down beers in the most "unladylike fashion" for the time period they were taken in. Coincidentally, Cohen had also been searching for a suitable Christmas present for his sister. "For some unknown reason, the images that I had already collected suggested themselves to me as a tribute to my sister's independent spirit and energy," Cohen told BuzzFeed News.
Over 150 images of these gun-toting and cigar-smoking women were brought together to become the photography book: Snapshots Of Dangerous Women.
So what does a dangerous women look like? Maybe she dresses in men's clothing, smokes a pack a day, or swears like a sailor. As the book's introduction reads, "She's a tough dame, an adventuress; harridan, daredevil, badass."
Cohen describes the inspiration behind the project:
"After 10 years of collecting photos from the flea market, dealers, and ebay I decided to start sorting them into categories. The first was Double Exposures and the second was Dangerous Women.
"I think that I had been collecting this topic [for] several years, unconsciously."
"When I realized that I had a substantial group of images, I intensified my efforts to find more images that were interesting and amusing to me."
"It would be my wish that people reading the book will reflect on the women in their families and lives."
"While I never gave the photos to my sister, my gift to her will be the book!"
The book will be released March 31st, just in time to wrap up Women's History Month.