Double Vision: These Wooden Carvings Which Celebrate the Yorùbá Unique Bond to Twin Children

When an African art enthusiast, curator and dealer was gifted a pair of Yorùbá twin statuettes – ère ìbejì – in recent years as a token for a fruitful business transaction, it signaled the beginning of a fresh obsession. Although he had seen before a few of ìbejì sculptures in his relative’s assemblage of traditional African artifacts, the gift resonated deeply with the collector, being a twin.

“I've always been conscious of ìbejì but I will say my passionate research was definitely a 2022 moment.”

“I’ve been collecting them since then,” states the collector, who trained as a legal professional in London. “I buy back from international sales and additionally every time I locate anybody in the country who owns them and desires to give them away or get rid of them, I acquire them.”

The Cultural Significance of Ère Ìbejì

The ère ìbejì are a physical embodiment of a distinctive sacred, cultural and creative custom among Yorùbá people, who have one of the world’s highest twinning rates of twins and are more than four times more likely to bear twins than Europeans.

The average twin rate of the Yoruba community of Igbo-Ora in the nation's southwestern region, is an exceptionally high twin ratio, versus a global average of about 12 per 1,000.

“Among the Yoruba people, twins hold a position of profound sacred and communal significance,” says a scholar who has studied ère ìbejì.

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

“Twins are regarded as bearers of good fortune, prosperity and protection for their households and societies,” the expert adds.

The Custom of Venerating Twin Spirits

“When a twin child passes away, carved wooden figures [ère ìbejì] are created to house the soul of the departed child, guaranteeing ongoing reverence and protecting the wellbeing of the living sibling and the wider kin.”

The statuettes, which are additionally carved for alive twin pairs, were treated like actual babies: bathed, anointed, nursed, dressed (in the identical dresses as the twins, if living), decorated with beads, sung and worshipped, and transported on women’s backs.

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

They were carved with stylised features – with protruding eyeballs, their cheeks often marked, and endowed adult features such as reproductive organs and breasts. Most importantly, their heads are large and hugely coiffed to symbolise each sibling's essence, origin and destiny, or orí.

The Revival Effort: This Ìbejì Initiative

This custom, however, has been almost entirely forgotten. The ìbejì figures are scattered in overseas museums around the globe, with the newest dating from the mid-1950s.

So, in February 2023, the enthusiast initiated the Ìbejì Project to reinvigorate the living heritage of the tradition.

“The Ìbejì Project is an informative and advocacy program that introduces heritage artifacts to new audiences,” he says. “Twinhood is universal, but the Yoruba reaction – sculpting ère ìbejì as vessels for souls – is unique and must be preserved as a living conversation rather than frozen in collections overseas.”

In late 2024, he organized an ìbejì-focused exhibition in partnership with a UK-based gallery.

The initiative involves gathering original ère ìbejì, exhibiting them and juxtaposing them with curated modern artworks that extends the tradition by examining the themes of twinness. “I'm drawn to creators who seriously interact with what twinhood embodies: dual nature, loss, companionship, endurance,” he states.

He believes curating modern art works – such as three-dimensional works, installations, paintings or photos – that share artistic and conceptual similarities with ère ìbejì resituates the ancient custom in the current era. “[This project] is a platform where contemporary creators create their personal interpretations, extending the dialogue into the now,” he adds.

“I'm most pleased when people who previously ignored traditional art start to acquire it because of the Ìbejì Project,” says the founder.

Future Goals and Worldwide Impact

Next, he hopes to release a publication “to render the ìbejì heritage accessible to academics and the wider audience”.

He says: “Though rooted in Yoruba tradition, the Ìbejì Project is for the world. Just as we examine other societies, people should research ours with the same seriousness.

“The aspiration is that they will no longer be seen as museum oddities, but as components of a vibrant, breathing traditional legacy.”