The Brown Sisters, Cataumet, Massachusetts 2005

Editor: This is Nicholas Nixon’s “The Brown Sisters, Cataumet, Massachusetts,” taken in 2005, a gelatin silver print. I find it intensely personal, perhaps because the sisters are looking directly at the camera. The details are also intriguing. What do you see in this piece? Curator: This work is part of Nixon’s ongoing project that he started in 1975. It’s… intimate, confronting. Each year, he photographs his wife Bebe and her three sisters, always in the same order. The consistency makes their aging visible. A testament to time’s relentless passage, and to the enduring bonds of sisterhood, don't you think? What feelings does that elicit for you? Editor: It's remarkable how each portrait accumulates into something greater – a timeline of lives lived. I’m struck by their expressions. There’s a vulnerability there, especially knowing it’s a yearly ritual. But it also raises questions about how they perceive being observed, doesn't it? Curator: Exactly. There’s a strange intimacy mixed with public display. Consider Nixon's choice of black and white; it strips away the distraction of color and forces us to focus on their faces, their textures. He invites us into their lives, yet there’s a distance maintained through the photographic process itself, a gentle intrusion of an outsider that renders us participant-voyeurs, do you agree? Editor: I think that resonates with me, that interplay of closeness and distance. It’s like a visual diary made for public consumption, really profound to witness this evolving story. Curator: Absolutely. I suppose, the beauty is in the commitment, and the truthfulness captured year after year. To recognize yourself and those that you love in their work, that's quite profound to reflect on.