Since participating in the Whitney Independent Study program, Cox has established a reputation as one the most highly respected African American artists working today. While she is best known for her use of her own body in her photos, she continues to celebrate black womanhood and criticize a society she often views as racist and sexist. In 2007 she received the Aaron Matalon Award, from The National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica and the Chrysalis Award, from the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts. Her work has been widely exhibited in such venues as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston among others.