Seeing double: the wooden carvings that celebrate the Yorùbá’s unique connection to twins

The carvings reflect many customs of the Yorùbá, such as facial scarification, and were treated in the same way as babies – even bathed, oiled and clothed. The statuettes began to disappear in the 1950s. Photograph: Courtesy of Adegbola

When the Nigerian art collector, curator and dealer Kayode Adegbola was given a pair of Yorùbá twin statuettes – ère ìbejì – in 2022 as a reward for a successful art deal, it was the start of a new passion. While he had seen a few ìbejì carvings in his uncle’s collection of African traditional art, the gift resonated with Adegbola.

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