Twins inspire both fear and wonder in Yorubaland, where the rate of twin births is among the highest in the world. Twins are considered special children who can bring riches to their parents or misfortune to those who do not honor them. If a twin dies, a sculpture is carved to remember them in the prime of life-forward-facing, confident, and dignified.
Wood, pigment, beads, nails
11 9/16 x 3 1/16 x 3 in. (29.4 x 7.7 x 7.6 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.608
Now on view at the
Seattle Art Museum
Resources
Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 51-52, reproduced pl. 55 (as "ibeji").
Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.
