Where Am I? (Part 3_Twins)
Today, I ventured into Brooklyn, NY for a second time and discovered the Brooklyn Museum. This is a place that you definitely want to spend a significant amount of time in, so don’t plan on doing too much in a day if you go here. Basically I think everyone should eat, breathe, sleep, and think museums….possibly a bit of an excessive idea, but no shame ha!
A majority of my time at the museum was spent in the Infinite Blue exhibition with objects from the museum’s permanent collection, which was astonishing in and of itself.
Within this museum I “found myself” in a very easy and relatable way.
When I first saw Pair of Twin Figures I chuckled involuntarily and immediately felt represented in this space. Why you might ask? Because I am a twin.
A majority of our lives has been spent being identified as “The Twins”, not as individuals. We were considered special and/or unique in multiple ways because we shared a womb for six months (yes you read that correctly) and were supposed to have some “special twin connection”. It was fascinating to read about the Ere Ibeji and how there were considered spiritually powerful beings, able to provide considerable good or inflict harm. I would not venture to say that my twin and I have supernatural powers or some deep connection to the spiritual realm, as that seems like too high of a power to dabble in unknowingly. However, this has sparked an interest in personal research on how other other cultures view twins, and it seems like it would be an interesting journey to embark on.
If these two objects in this exhibition have taught me nothing else, it was the simple lesson that you can discover yourself in cultural institutions in the most unexpected, yet very familiar ways.
Resources
2x4, Inc (n.d.) Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved on March 14, 2018 from https://2x4.org/work/12/brooklyn-museum/
