Noor
08 April, 2018
At an orphanage in Gwagwalada, Nigeria, a child plays behind a dress on a washing line, symbolically signifying children whose twin has died. Traditionally, if one twin dies the surviving sibling should not be portrayed without their ‘second half’.
Nigeria has one of the highest occurrences of twins in the world, particularly among the Yoruba people in the southwest. In the southwestern town of Igbo-Ora, dubbed ‘The Nation’s Home of Twins’, reportedly almost every family has at least one set. In 2018, the town hosted a Twins Festival, attended by over 2,000 pairs. The first-born twin is usually called Taiwo, meaning ‘having the first taste of the world’, while the second-born is named Kehinde, ‘arriving after the other’. Communities have developed different cultural practices in response to this high birth rate, from veneration to demonization. In earlier times, twins in some regions were considered evil, and vilified or killed at birth. Nowadays, the arrival of twins is generally met with celebration, and many think they bring good luck and wealth. Two color filters were used, to express duality: of identity, of photographers, and of attitude to twins.
Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne de Wilde
Bénédicte Kurzen (b. 1980) is a photographer working on cross cultural narratives and mythologies, opening the door to possible redefinitions of social concepts. She was part of ...
