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Whenhen a Nigerian art collector, exhibition organizer and dealer received a pair of Yoruba carved twin figures – ère ìbejì – in recent years as a reward for a successful art deal, it marked the beginning of a new passion. Although he had previously encountered a handful of ìbejì carvings in his relative’s assemblage of African traditional art, the gift resonated deeply with him, being a twin.

“I've constantly been conscious of ìbejì but I must admit my dedicated research was definitely a 2022 moment.”

“I have been gathering them since then,” states he, who trained as a legal professional in the UK. “I buy back from foreign auctions and also whenever I locate anybody in Nigeria who has them and wants to part with them or get rid of them, I take from them.”

The Traditional Importance of Ère Ìbejì

The ère ìbejì are a material embodiment of a distinctive sacred, cultural and creative tradition among Yoruba people, who possess among the globe's top birth rates of twins and are more than four times more likely to bear twins than Western populations.

The average birthrate of the Yorùbá town of Igbo-Ora in Nigeria’s southwestern region, is an exceptionally high twin ratio, versus a global mean of about a much lower figure.

“In Yorùbá culture, twins hold a status of profound spiritual and social importance,” says a scholar who has researched ère ìbejì.

“The Yorùbá are known to have one of the highest rate of twin births in the world, and this phenomenon is viewed not merely as a biological occurrence but as a sign of divine blessing.

“Twins are seen as bearers of good fortune, prosperity and protection for their households and societies,” he says.

The Custom of Venerating Twin Spirits

“If a twin child passes away, sculpted representations [ère ìbejì] are crafted to house the soul of the deceased child, guaranteeing continued veneration and protecting the wellbeing of the living twin and the wider kin.”

The figures, which are additionally sculpted for living twin pairs, were taken care of like actual babies: washed, anointed, nursed, clothed (in the same dresses as the twins, if living), decorated with ornaments, chanted and prayed to, and transported on female backs.

“I'm attracted to artists who engage with what twinhood represents: duality, loss, companionship, permanence.”

They were carved with artistic features – with bulgy eyes, their faces often marked, and given adult features such as genitalia and bosoms. Most importantly, their skulls are big and immensely styled to represent each sibling's essence, origin and fate, or orí.

The Resurgence Effort: This Ìbejì Initiative

This tradition, nevertheless, has been largely lost. The ìbejì sculptures are dispersed in foreign institutions around the globe, with the newest originating in the mid-1950s.

So, in February 2023, the collector initiated the Ibeji Initiative to revitalise the lived history of the custom.

“This initiative is an informative and advocacy platform that presents heritage artifacts to modern audiences,” he explains. “Twinhood is global, but the Yorùbá response – sculpting ère ìbejì as vessels for souls – is distinctive and must be kept alive as a ongoing conversation rather than frozen in collections abroad.”

In October 2024, he curated an ìbejì-focused show in partnership with a London art space.

The initiative involves gathering authentic 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 artists who deeply engage with the meaning of twinhood represents: dual nature, absence, companionship, endurance,” he says.

He thinks selecting contemporary artistic pieces – such as three-dimensional works, installations, paintings or photography – that share creative and thematic parallels with ère ìbejì resituates the age-old custom in the current era. “[The Ìbejì Project] is a space where contemporary creators create their own interpretations, carrying the conversation into the present,” he says.

“I'm most satisfied when people who once ignored heritage works begin to collect it due to the Ìbejì Project,” notes the founder.

Future Goals and Worldwide Influence

In the future, he aspires to publish a publication “to make the ìbejì tradition accessible to academics and the broader public”.

He states: “Though based in Yorùbá culture, the Ìbejì Project is for the globe. Just as we examine different societies, people should research ours with equal seriousness.

“The aspiration is that they will no longer be seen as museum curiosities, but as components of a living, breathing cultural heritage.”