martin schoeller identical portraits of twins

They are often perceived accordingly, as a unit or extension, rather than the individuals we all assume ourselves to be. They embody sameness and symmetry in the human form as literally and precisely as nature permits. Inheritors of the same genetic information, they are, in biological terms, the same person twice or thrice and in very rare cases even four times repeated. In a close-up, the impact stems largely from the static subject’s expression or apparent lack thereof, so the viewer is challenged to read a face without the benefit of the environmental cues we naturally use to form our interpersonal reactions.įor better or worse, out of instinct or learned vanity, we make our way alone in the world, believing our struggles to be distinctive, and operating within what critic Hillel Schwartz’s has termed “the despair of uniqueness.” Few worldly phenomena challenge this default outlook like the fact of the identical twin.

“Identical – Portraits of Twins” by Photographer Martin Schoeller is available on Identical – Portraits of Twins by Photographer Martin Schoeller Twin sisters Carly Ayer and Lily Ayer photographed by Martin Schoeller Twins Sal Catalano and Joe Catalano photographed by Martin Schoeller Portrait of the twins Kristin Tynski and Daniel Tynski by Martin Schoeller Twin brothers Nate Mueller and Kirk Mueller photographed by Martin Schoellerīuy: “Identical – Portraits of Twins” by Photographer Martin Schoeller on Īrtist Statement: A photographic close-up is perhaps the purest form of portraiture, creating a confrontation between the viewer and the subject that daily interaction makes impossible, or at least impolite. That enables viewers to compare the faces of the genetically identical. He took pictures of twins side by side in his typical “close up” style. Thereafter Martin Schoeller visited the National Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio to capture twins, triplets and quadruplets. The book is based on a project that first appeared in the January 2012 issue of National Geographic.

“ Identical: Portraits of Twins” is a new monograph by the well known photographer Martin Schoeller with a foreword written by artist Marina Abramović.

Martin schoeller identical portraits of twins