Brown Sisters

In 2015 I first blogged about the series of photos taken by Nicholas Nixon of the Brown Sisters. I was intrigued by the honesty of the photos—women from girls into midlife into post middle age, marking the external changes, telling details (such as the Blackberry attached at one of the sister’s waist). Secondly, I was amazed at how a photographer (albeit one related to the oldest sister through marriage) could consistently organize an annual shoot. It is sooo hard to get family together even casually let alone for a project on a year-to-year basis. See family reunions, headaches, #moretroublethanworth

Kudos to Nixon and the Brown Sisters!

Now almost 50 years since the first photo in 1975, the project is still ongoing. I was so pleased when visiting the Art Institute of Chicago over the past weekend to see the 41 images plus a few more more on display. My friend and I before setting out to explore the museum wanted to fill water bottles and wandered downstairs to the bathrooms. Wow! There were the girls, on the wall. We walked the perimeter, observing the differences, changes, the magnitude of the project. I saw additional photos from 2017 – 2023. The pandemic year 2020 the women were in gallery form as per a Zoom photo shoot, but ALL STILL ALIVE.

During the pandemic when I was online WAY TOO MUCH the Brown Sisters was a subject I revisited. I was curious to find out how they were, were they going to make it. Somehow I emotionally tied their survival to my own. We were all around the same age, thus, told we were vulnerable, that we were in a demographic category where we might die. Spring 2020 I was deep in the depths of mortality, my own and others. I checked the Johns Hopkins COVID map several times a day, looking for patterns in the statistics, some crystal ball into which I could see the future. Would we be okay?

I wish I knew—today more than ever.

Anyway, online there were no new pictures. I assumed they, the subjects, had had enough notoriety, enough focus both from the photo lens and media. Perhaps, they had put the kibosh on being photographed. But, here in the area around the lower bathroom they were, staring back at me, alive and well. Doing what they do: being sisters.

The continuity hearted me. Though the pandemic has ebbed, there is still a scary world out there, and the sisters are along for the ride. Thanks for hanging in there, for giving me hope.

notice the glasses

pandemic photo, 2020