In the summer of 1999 Nicholas Nixon returned to the streets intent on photographing strangers. In the process he realized that his attention was focused on couples and decided to begin a project on the subject that would be entitled Lovers. In order to kick off this adventure Nixon placed an ad in a local newspaper requesting volunteer participants. From the responses he received Nixon was able to schedule appointments to visit the homes of different couples. The project lasted for approximately two years and throughout its development Nixon and his camera gained access to unknown and unpredictable levels of intimacy, whose strength and subtle nuances he tried to capture.

In S.V., R.L., Cambridge, Nixon reveals an encounter between the two bodies in a composition that approaches abstraction, where the bodies’ shapes are contoured by light and their different skin tones. As in photographs by his contemporary Robert Mapplethorpe, these bodies appear sculptural. The play on volumes and negative space points to the duality of the figures, who are united with a kiss.