The Brown Sisters: Over 40 Years of Photos

Nicholas Nixon took the first photo of his wife Bebe and her three sisters, Mimi, Laurie, and Heather in July of 1975. Every year for the next 40 years, he recreated the photo with variations. This allows his viewers to consider their own interpretation of the messages the sisters are conveying in their slightly aged progressed photos.

It all began in 1975 when Nixon got the idea for the photo series and asked the sisters to pose in the order that they wanted. Throughout the years, it was brought up to change the order, but the best shots of the ones taken were always of them in the original order.

Even though no narrative accompanies each photo, the viewer is still able to read each woman’s face and body language and feel part of their life story during that year.

The sisters wished to be considered anonymous subjects in the photo series. They didn’t care to “tell their story” or allow the viewers to know intimate details about their personal lives. However, the talent of Nixon, coupled with human nature, inadvertently allows a glance into the character of each one of the sisters.

In the above photo, one can understandably assume that Mimi is pregnant, as Heather gently places her hand on Mimi’s stomach and glances down lovingly. This is the first photo that suggests a life event for one of the sisters.

While there is a definite change in the physical aspects of the sisters from 1992 to 1999, the photo also indicates an even closer bond than previous years. The lack of space and Laurie’s embrace of Bebe obviously expresses a nurturing and protectiveness that is often seen between sisters.

By 2011, there was no lack of affection between the sisters, who seemed comfortable to display it in front of the camera. There was always speculation that if one or two of the sisters were more in the forefront of the photo that it indicated that the sister(s) had more of an impactful life that year. Nixon reported that it wasn’t necessarily true and the women sort of created their own scene as long as they were in the same order.

Being in the same order created a smooth transition and prevented viewers from having to visually jump around the photos when looking at them in succession. Nixon would typically take around ten photos in order to get the best possible shot. While they all voted on which photo they liked best, Nixon typically got the final vote as he would overall be more objective.

There is no doubt that with age comes wisdom. It’s very evident in the most recent photos that the sisters valued their relationship more than ever and were more than willing to convey that in the images. As they seem to hold on more tightly to one another than ever before, it wouldn’t be implausible to wonder if any of the women feared that it could be their last photo together.

We all had to adjust to the implications of the pandemic that the entire world faced in 2020 and the Brown Sisters were no exception. While they were unable to share their closeness with the world as they had before, their photos were still documented to continue their photographic journey with a “Zoom style” photo

I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I sincerely hope that we are able to see a 2021 version, as well as many more years to come.

Sources:

These Sisters Took Same Picture Together Every Year For 40 Years

Nicholas Nixon on 40 Years of Portraits, Seducing Your Subject, and a Good Death — Interview with…

***Note: This story was originally published on Medium.com by the author***