Double Vision: The Hand-Carved Sculptures Which Honor the Yoruba Unique Connection to Twins

When a Nigerian art collector, exhibition organizer and art trader was gifted a set of Yorùbá carved twin figures – ère ìbejì – in 2022 as a reward for a successful art deal, it marked the beginning of a fresh passion. While he had previously encountered a few of ìbejì carvings in his uncle’s collection of African traditional art, the present resonated deeply with him, a twin himself.

“I have always been aware of ìbejì but I must admit my dedicated investigation was certainly a 2022 moment.”

“I have been collecting them since then,” says the collector, who studied as a legal professional in London. “I buy back from international sales and also every time I find someone in the country who has them and wants to give them away or get rid of them, I acquire from them.”

The Cultural Significance of Ère Ìbejì

The ère ìbejì are a physical representation of a distinctive spiritual, traditional and artistic tradition among Yorùbá people, who possess among the globe's top twinning rates of twin births and are significantly more likely to have them than Western populations.

The typical birthrate of the Yorùbá town of Igbo-Ora in Nigeria’s Oyo state, is 45 twins per 1,000 births, compared with a global average of about a much lower figure.

“In Yorùbá culture, twin children hold a position of deep sacred and communal significance,” explains a scholar who has researched ère ìbejì.

“This community are reputed to have one of the highest twinning rates in the world, and this occurrence is viewed not only as a biological occurrence but as a sign of divine blessing.

“Twins are regarded as carriers of prosperity, prosperity and safeguarding for their households and societies,” the expert adds.

The Tradition of Honoring Twins

“If a twin child passes away, carved wooden figures [ère ìbejì] are crafted to house the spirit of the departed child, guaranteeing continued reverence and safeguarding the wellbeing of the living twin and the broader family.”

The figures, which are also carved for living twin pairs, were taken care of like actual babies: washed, anointed, nursed, dressed (in the same dresses as the siblings, if living), decorated with beads, sung and prayed to, and transported on female backsides.

“I'm drawn to creators who interact with the concept of twinship represents: dual nature, absence, partnership, continuity.”

They were sculpted with stylised characteristics – with protruding eyes, their cheeks often marked, and endowed mature features such as genitalia and bosoms. Most importantly, their skulls are big and hugely coiffed to symbolise each twin’s essence, origin and destiny, or orí.

A Revival Effort: The Ìbejì Project

This custom, nevertheless, has been almost entirely lost. The ìbejì sculptures are dispersed in overseas museums around the world, with the newest dating from the mid-1950s.

So, in early 2023, the enthusiast launched the Ìbejì Project to reinvigorate the living history of the tradition.

“The Ìbejì Project is an educational and advocacy program that introduces heritage artifacts to modern viewers,” he explains. “Twinship is universal, but the Yoruba response – sculpting ère ìbejì as vessels for souls – is distinctive and must be kept alive as a ongoing dialogue rather than frozen in museums abroad.”

In October 2024, he organized an ìbejì-centred show in collaboration with a UK-based art space.

The project involves collecting original ère ìbejì, displaying them and pairing them with selected modern artworks that extends the tradition by exploring the themes of twinness. “I am drawn to artists who deeply engage with what twinhood embodies: dual nature, absence, companionship, continuity,” he states.

He believes curating modern artistic pieces – such as sculptures, artistic setups, paintings or photography – that share creative and thematic similarities with ère ìbejì repositions the ancient custom in the present. “[This project] is a platform where contemporary artists create their personal responses, carrying the conversation into the present,” he adds.

“I am very pleased when individuals who previously ignored heritage works begin to collect it because of the Ìbejì Project,” notes the founder.

Future Ambitions and Global Influence

Next, he hopes to publish a book “to render the ìbejì tradition accessible to scholars and the wider audience”.

He states: “Although based in Yoruba tradition, the initiative is for the world. Similarly to how we study other cultures, others should study our heritage with the same dedication.

“My hope is that they will not be viewed as institutional curiosities, but as components of a living, breathing traditional legacy.”