"Eyebrows should be sisters not twins," the artists behind the photography duo Sisters Not Twins explained to The Huffington Post. "It's just a jazzier way of saying, 'We're the same, but different.'"
The members of Sisters Not Twins are not actually biological sisters, let alone twins. Anne-Marie van Noortwijk is from a small fishing village in rural Holland. Melanie Hyams is from London. The two met while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2012. With mutual interests in film and photography, the two became friends, collaborators and each other's mutual muses. "When we met, we were both aliens in America," the artists continued. "The experience of being foreigners together was very freeing and cemented our friendship."
Today, as Sisters Not Twins, Melanie and Anne-Marie create dreamy portraits that channel the magic of sisterhood. Somewhere between a Rineke Dijkstra photograph and a throwback dance recital portrait (sparkly leotard included), they render warm, sugary and slightly surreal images packed with fuzzy feelings related to intimacy and friendship.
"We have always maintained that our work sits squarely between documentary and theatre. Our own realities are triggers for stories," they added. "Little details from everyday life become exaggerated or tweaked in our work to create new worlds within the world we experience ... For us, as restless storytellers, there is not much more inspiring and therapeutic then watching the ever changing world from a car window!"
The photographers join an army of young women rebelling against the common formula of men behind the camera and women before it, choosing to represent youth and femininity on their own terms. At a time when complex, dynamic female friendships are finally and fervently being explored in literature, film and television, the artists specify that their work doesn't specifically comply with this mission, but stems from it.
"To us the work isn't about female friendship, but more that it's carved out of it. By that we mean that we are female, and we make work about each other and our relationship with each other, but female friendship as such isn't our intended focus."
"The story behind the image 'Turtles,' for instance, was conceived over the winter when we were both supporting each other through low points and longing for the warmth of summer," they continued. "Melanie read about turtles, who take turns to stack on top of each other to boost one another closer to the sun. The image is subsequently very personal, but also humorous."
Just like that, Melanie and Anne-Marie transform everyday frustrations into portals of collaboration and creativity. "Just like eyebrows as two separate entities, we compliment each other, and we embrace our differences! Despite neither of us having a blood sister, we both imagine our friendship is what it could be like."
Sisters Not Twins recently closed their first exhibition in Amsterdam.
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