The Brown Sisters, Lexington, Massachusetts 1996

This is a black and white photograph, taken in Lexington Massachusetts by Nicholas Nixon. The Brown Sisters, so they are titled. I love the idea of seriality, and portraiture, and repetition, and endurance—what a project to take on! The kind of project that’s a life’s work. Every year, the same four women, for all time! Or at least as long as they all shall live. I wonder what it feels like to be in a project like that—what thoughts do they have each year as they pose? The formality of the composition is beautiful, but there’s something so casual and accidental about the light, the way they are dressed. It feels like a slice of ordinary life, made profound by Nixon’s dedication. He saw something in their faces, and wanted to keep on seeing it. Painters like me do series too; it’s a way of working through something. I like to think that Nixon felt this way too, and that these pictures are an ongoing experiment.