Resident Spotlight: The Right Place at the Right Time A Photography Retrospective with Mikki Ansin
Thanks to the west-facing windows, Mikki Ansin’s second-floor apartment at Youville House becomes a reservoir of natural light in the afternoons. Dozens of framed photographs catch and release stray glimmers.
Near one window is a close-up of a youthful John Kennedy and his wife Jackie – both flashing wide smiles in front of a curtain. “John and Jackie took it themselves in a photobooth,” Mikki says. “Back then you could pay 25 cents to step into a booth and have your picture taken. Caroline brought that little photo to The Kennedy Library and I had it enlarged it into this portrait.” By “Caroline,” she means Caroline Kennedy, the President’s daughter. “I met her when I photographed Rose on her 90th birthday,” explains Mikki, who seems to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
Mikki’s body of work spans decades of film, politics, photojournalism, portraiture, and fine art. “I originally wanted to write screenplays,” she recalls. “As an undergraduate I was an English major. After I had my children, I went back to school at Boston University to study film. I thought it would enable me learn to write screenplays. I chose to spend a semester at the MIT Film School. Luckily, the Film Department at MIT was run by Richard Leacock, who brought the French New Wave directors to MIT. We met Truffaut, Godard, and many others. They showed us their films, which was a real shot in the arm.”Thanks to a series of coincidences involving a mutual friend (Mike Dukakis) and film producer Ismail Merchant, Mikki was hired as a substitute photographer for three days on a film for Merchant Ivory Productions. This led to an ongoing professional relationship with the company. In her heyday, Mikki worked on fourteen major Merchant Ivory productions, and 48 Union films, traveling across the world and working with a wide array of directors and movie stars. As the still photographer, she captured behind-the-scenes moments, actor portraits, local scenery, and more.
“What I wanted, as a journalist, was to write about how films are made,” says Mikki, “to show what really goes on behind the scenes. I took pictures of the stars with their feet up and their hair down; of the cast and crew at play: from the softball field to the set. I have always been fascinated by how things work.”
As a photojournalist, Mikki has also been embedded in politics. During the 1976 Presidential Primaries, a political acquaintance asked the then-fresh from graduate film-school-graduate to help cover this; “That year there were ten candidates running for office,” Mikki remembers. “I was assigned to one of them, so I met him at the airport and showed him around. I took him to places like the North Bridge in Concord that were historically meaningful and photographed him. By noon, he asked me if I would work for his campaign! I told him that wasn’t on my path, but I would stay with him through the Massachusetts primary, Jimmy’. I knew he would win by New Hampshire, and continued to cover Rosalynn through Pennsylvania. Happily I ended up on the White House Inaugural Photo Team.
Mikki’s work with the Carters made a splash, with one photograph turning up as a double-page spread in the New York Times. Mikki’s agency sold the image to a handful of other publications. More assignments followed, including coverage of Carter’s inauguration.
In the summer of 1980, Rose Kennedy turned 90 years old and the family was looking for a photographer to document her birthday. A mutual friend recommended Mikki, who was thrilled. Mikki vividly remembers driving to Hyannis Port in the morning, photographing Rose, then stopping at the Kennedy Library on the way back, where my photo developer was waiting, for me to pick which one of my shots should end the slide show that night. The family loved it and asked to keep it for their use. She remained friendly with the family and has photographed other Kennedys, but her time getting to know Rose remains a career highlight.
