When we recreate a photograph, we do more than look back at the past. We discover who we were, who we are today, and who we hope to become. A photograph may capture a single moment in time, but a series of photographs can reveal a story unfolding over many years.
From 1975 to 2014, American photographer Nicholas Nixon photographed his wife and her three sisters once a year, always standing in the same order. Each photograph resembles the one before it, and yet each tells a different story. We can see the passage of time in their faces and expressions, in children who were born, in people who are no longer with us, and in the relationships that endured.
The holiday season gives us a similar opportunity to return to a familiar moment year after year. We dress up, gather with many of the same people, take part in familiar rituals, and sometimes even celebrate in the very same place. And yet, each year, we arrive a little different.