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Whenhen a Nigerian art collector, exhibition organizer and dealer was gifted a pair of Yoruba twin statuettes – ère ìbejì – in 2022 as a reward for a fruitful business transaction, it signaled the beginning of a new obsession. While he had seen before a few of ìbejì carvings in his uncle’s collection of African traditional art, the present resonated deeply with the collector, a twin himself.

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

“I’ve been collecting them ever since,” states he, who trained as a lawyer in the UK. “I buy back from international sales and also every time I locate someone in the country who owns them and wants to part with them or dispose of them, I take them.”

These Cultural Significance of Ère Ìbejì

The ère ìbejì are a material embodiment of a unique spiritual, traditional and artistic tradition among Yoruba people, who possess one of the world’s highest twinning rates of twins and are significantly more prone to bear twins than Western populations.

The typical birthrate of the Yorùbá community of Igbo-Ora in the nation's southwestern region, is an exceptionally high twin ratio, compared with a global mean of about a much lower figure.

“Among the Yoruba people, twin children occupy a status of deep sacred and social significance,” says a researcher who has researched ère ìbejì.

“The Yorùbá are reputed to have an elevated rate of twin births in the globe, and this phenomenon is viewed not merely as a biological occurrence but as a indication of divine favor.

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

A Custom of Venerating Twins

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

The figures, which are also carved for alive twin pairs, were treated like real infants: bathed, anointed, nursed, dressed (in the same garments as the siblings, if living), decorated with ornaments, chanted and prayed to, and transported on female backs.

“I'm drawn to artists who engage with the concept of twinhood signifies: dual nature, loss, partnership, continuity.”

They were sculpted with stylised features – with protruding eyes, their faces often marked, and given mature features such as reproductive organs and bosoms. Crucially, their skulls are large and immensely styled to represent each sibling's spirit, origin and fate, or orí.

A Resurgence Initiative: This Ìbejì Project

This custom, however, has been largely forgotten. The ìbejì sculptures are scattered in overseas museums all over the globe, with the newest dating from the mid-1950s.

So, in early 2023, the collector launched the Ibeji Initiative to reinvigorate the lived history of the tradition.

“The Ìbejì Project is an educational and advocacy platform that presents heritage artifacts to new audiences,” he says. “Twinship is universal, but the Yoruba response – sculpting ère ìbejì as vessels for spirits – is unique and should be preserved as a living conversation rather than static in collections overseas.”

In October 2024, he organized an ìbejì-focused show in collaboration with a UK-based gallery.

The initiative involves collecting original ère ìbejì, exhibiting them and pairing them with curated contemporary art that extends the heritage by examining the concepts of duality. “I am attracted to artists who deeply engage with what twinhood represents: duality, loss, fellowship, continuity,” he says.

He believes selecting modern artistic pieces – such as three-dimensional works, installations, paintings or photos – that share creative and thematic parallels with ère ìbejì repositions the age-old custom in the current era. “[The Ìbejì Project] is a platform where modern artists create their personal interpretations, extending the conversation into the present,” he adds.

“I'm very pleased when individuals who previously dismissed traditional art begin to acquire it due to the Ìbejì Project,” says the founder.

Future Goals and Global Influence

In the future, he aspires to release a publication “to make the ìbejì heritage accessible to scholars and the broader public”.

He states: “Though based in Yoruba culture, the Ìbejì Project is for the globe. Just as we examine other societies, others should study ours with the same dedication.

“The aspiration is that they will not be viewed as museum oddities, but as part of a vibrant, dynamic traditional legacy.”