Lynne Cohen's lens on the world

Montreal photographer Lynne Cohen became theinaugural winner of the Scotiabank Photography Prizein 2011 after a career that has seen her gain international recognition for her photographs of uncanny, unpeopled spaces.

The prize comes with $50,000 in cash, a contract to create a book documenting her work and an exhibition at Torontos Contact Photography Festival.Cohen's Toronto exhibit, Nothing is Hidden, opened Wednesday at Toronto's Design Exchange.

Lynne Cohen: Nothing is Hidden, aglossy book from Steidl a publisher known for its facility with photo collections pulls together a range of her work, starting in the early 1970s.

The volume shows her fascination with domestic and institutional interior spaces as well as the social and political edge she brings to her work.

In an interview with CBC's Sian Jones, Cohenpreviewed her Toronto exhibitionand revealed what goes into her creative process.