Nicholas Nixon exhibited in Toulouse: “In photography, beauty is born from difficulty”
Event at the Château d’Eau gallery, in Toulouse, with the exhibition devoted to the work of the American photographer Nicholas Nixon, who, coming from architecture, was increasingly interested in portraiture.
An assiduous reader of Flaubert and Balzac (in original version), Nicholas Nixon is so happy to be in France, where he had not been for ten years, that he tries to speak our language – with a agility certain. Born in 1947, the American photographer has a very East Coast style (he lives in Boston), this way of slipping a dash of humor or a slight smile after a most serious explanation. Pretending to be heard to attract attention, he remarks: “Listening to me like this, you give me the impression of being a priest!” “
You photograph your Baby woman and her three sisters every year since 1975. How do you feel today when you look at the first images?
I feel very strongly the youth of the sisters. Years have passed, faces are faded, a lot is esteemed but the images remain of an intact force. Photography is a wonderful witness to the time that flies, to everything that is not visible at the time.
Isn’t it cruel to see young women aging inexorably?
Two of the sisters are not terribly excited to have such a mirror held out to each other. The other two have always validated the principle: they have it like a game. Anyway, no question for me to make changes, to use Photoshop …
Do you give them pose, dress or other instructions before taking the picture?
Especially not ! I refrain from influencing them in any way. They are presented as they wish, depending on the weather, the location, the context. It happens very simply, in a few minutes. And this is how each face expresses different emotions: joy, fear, pleasure, anguish …
Why do you use a camera?
Because the size of the negatives makes it possible to produce prints of extraordinary precision. The film gives a sensuality, a material that I do not find in digital. Of course, it’s heavy, it’s slow, it’s complicated, but I believe that a certain difficulty arises in beauty. I probably owe this to my New England Puritan ancestors who extolled the virtues of effort.
Have you considered a similar series with your kids?
I photographed them, of course, but no question of another series of the same type. It would sound too much like a job. Regularly, people ask me to come to their home every year to do their portrait. I have always refused.
You started with architectural photographs. Why did you switch to portraiture?
Because after the excitement of the first pictures, I found it boring, unsurprisingly. Little by little, humans, at first very small in the middle of buildings, are put to grow in my photographs. And I approached them, who were very intrigued by the device I was using. But it took me a long time to take good portraits: you have to bring together so many conditions to really succeed.
In the 1980s, you were one of the first to take an interest in AIDS patients. Why ?
They were ignored by the media and the American middle class. Outside of New York or San Francisco, they were treated like plague victims. In the photographers, I only wanted to show that they were humans like us; just sick humans. This made many people aware of this tragedy.
Other images of old people echo. Why are you so interested in the end of life?
Because if you put aside death, then you think you have the right to be selfish, to pollute the planet, that sort of thing. It is my honor to be around old people, to try to make their last days more pleasant. Some are boring, others tell me terrible stories, it doesn’t matter: I take an hour every week to go see them. I’m there for them, and I feel it makes them happy. That’s enough for me.