Dianna Cohen

Dianna Cohen is an American visual artist and activist.^[1] She is the CEO and co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, an advocacy group and social movement organization which seeks to reduce plastic pollution.^[2][3]

Dianna Cohen
Born	1965 Los Angeles, CA
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation(s)	Activist and visual artist
Years active	1989-present
Known for	Plastic Pollution Coalition (co-founder)
Website	diannacohen.com

Early life and education

Cohen grew up in Los Angeles. Her father was a filmmaker, and her mother the director of the Los Angeles Free Clinic.^[4] She attended UCLA, where she studied biology before shifting her major to art.^[5]

Career

Following her graduation, Cohen began working in collage, initially using deconstructed brown paper bags, and later incorporating plastic. Her first solo exhibition of the bag series was in 1994.^[5]

After eight years of working with plastic bags, Cohen realized the plastic was degrading. In a 2015 interview she said: “At first I got excited because I thought that it meant the plastic bags were ephemeral and organic like us, and that they had a finite lifespan.” In researching the subject, she discovered that "plastic photodegrades or heat-degrades by breaking apart, but does not disappear."^[5] In 2009, after learning about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, she founded the Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC) with her sister, Julia Cohen, Manuel Maqueda, Daniella Russo and Lisa Boyle.^[2][6] She has led the Plastic Pollution Coalition's efforts to eliminate the use of single-use containers for beer, water and other drinks at music festivals and concerts.^[7]

Awards

Cohen has received awards for her environmental activism. She was named Environmentalist of the Year by SIMA in 2019.^[8] In 2016, she was presented the inaugural Snow Angel Award by the Sun Valley Film Festival.^[9]

Personal

Cohen and her partner, Jackson Browne, live in Los Angeles.^[10] They were co-executive producers on the 2020 documentary The Story of Plastic. ^[11] She has surfed since 1996.^[12]