Within five years of working as a cue card girl (2019–2024) for Saturday Night Live, Lauren Cohen created a constellation of drawings, photographs, comedic performances, ceramics, and a graphic novel titled The Invisible Cue Card Girl. Cohen took the job intentionally, immersing herself in the entertainment world not as a performer in the spotlight, but as someone navigating the margins of visibility. Moving silently between cameras and actors, holding up the words that allowed others to shine, she experienced firsthand the tension between being indispensable and being unseen.

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This vantage point profoundly shaped her artistic practice. Stage sets, character development, and comedy became central tools in how she builds narrative and constructs identity across mediums. Cohen’s work often functions like a theatrical environment, where objects and characters operate as stand-ins for emotional states, ambitions, and cultural archetypes.

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This body of work in particular explores the idea of invisibility and the complexities of selfhood within creative labor. Cohen interrogates what it means to yearn for success, to be validated, and to feel seen in one’s own artistic pursuits. Through humor, performance, and a keen awareness of backstage dynamics, she reveals the emotional terrain of striving artists who exist between aspiration and recognition. Her approach turns the often hidden labor of the entertainment and art worlds into a stage for examining identity, ambition, and the quiet resilience required to keep creating.