The Brown Sisters: Four Women Over Four Decades

December 14, 2017

This weekend, my boyfriend pulled out not one, not two but three grays he noticed glistening in the Spring evening light against my dark black hair. I’m still in my late twenties and so I spent the next twenty minutes feeling slightly betrayed, glass of rosé in hand, proclaiming that when I’m older, I’ve got to be one of those ladies with white hair that can still ride a bicycle. However one approaches it, the acceptance of ageing is a tough one. Coincidentally, this weekend, I also discovered the Brown Sisters…

In 1975, American photographer, Nicholas Nixon took the above photograph of his wife Bebe and her three sisters, Heather, Mimi and Laurie, aged between 15 and 25 years old. The next year, he took another photograph and realised there was an opportunity to do something special. With their permission, he began to photograph them each year, standing in the same positions, over 36 years.

Let’s take a journey through the passage of time with these four women…