IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS, INNER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS!
Twins, Twinning, The Double, Irish Twins, Identical Twins, Non-Identical Twins, Archetype Twins, Rivals, Soul Mates, Scapegoats, Counterparts, Idiosyncretic Pairs, Inversion, Substitution, Rivalry, -handedness, Primordial Twins, Twin Taboos, Duality, Opposing Principles, Creation Myths, Hero Twins, Warrior Twins, Twins of the Sun, Twins in Rock Art, Twin Petroglyphs, Longing and Belonging, Polarity, Atachuchu - Lord of theTwins, Narcissus, Echo, Narcism, Narcistic, Fragmentation in Dreams, Vampire, Cloning, Sacred Twins
TWINS & TWINNING & THE DOUBLE
Mirrors are glass, sad glass! In our mother's belly// I tumbled with a twin, looked in her eyes.// In the old time what we know was dangerous to know// when others tumble around this world so lonely, so lonely.
Philip Daughtry
Why does Agnes tell you to fast and go on vision quests? It is because she knows that for the sacred twins to be able to reach you and each other, and translate messages, all blocks to this process have to be eliminated. Dreams and visions are the essence of sacredness. You must be still to smooth the path for your sacred twins.
Lynn V. Andrews in Jaguar Woman
IRISH TWINS
The title of the painting shown above is 'Irish Twins'. Irish Twins are siblings born within one year of each other. My two elder sons are not twins. They are not even Irish Twins! (they are 20 months apart). But at age 2 and 3 they went through a stage where people asked me almost daily if they were twins. People would observe them with fascination and amusement and this led to twins appearing in my paintings. I decided to research the subject of twins.
QUINN & ELLIOTT (aged 3 and 2)
Twins are fascinating, why?
In the human world we find identical and non-identical sets of twins.
However, biological twins are only a limited case in a larger category. The so called Archetype Twins includes variants such as The Double, Rivals, Soul Mates and Scapegoats.
All twins are counterparts. But not all counterparts are twins.Think of apples: a couple of apples are not a set of twin apples!
TWIN CRANES (?!)
Spain 2007
Twins are idiosyncratic pairs: i.e pairs that share certain characteristics. They are bound together by certain activities and principles, such as inversion, substitution, imitation, rivalry and so forth.
Poison one of two apples and substitute it for the other one: they will become twins. If one apple is reflected in a mirror, it becomes the twin of its counterpart!
Our hands are twins. They match if they come together in prayer, but mismatch if we fit one in a glove belonging to the other. Here is where the concept '-handedness' comes in. Things such as crystals, sea-shells, galaxies, water spiralling down a drain and curly hair possess either right- or left-handedness.
The human umbilical cord occurs conclusively in a left-handed spiral, why?
Throughout the world twins occur in Creation Stories. Twins inherently represent duality and symbolise opposing principles. This painting shows the 'Primordial Twins', i.e. the Twin Archetype, the 'Forefathers of All Twins'...
In folklore and tribal customs surviving to this day, human twins are viewed as taboo regardless of whether they look alike. The 'primitive' mind intuits in twins the workings of an inscrutable power to be feared and revered, inspiring awe that goes quite beyond the novel impressions made on us by exact look-alikes.
Twins pose a lot of conundrums and contradictions!
ROMULUS AND REMUS
Throughout all mythologies twins appear: twins of light and darkness, born from the Great Mother or primordial womb. They bring opposing principles, duality, into the world in Creation Myths.
ISHTAR SUCKLING TWINS
The Akkadian goddess Ishtar (also known as Astarte or as Inanna to Sumerians) is shown here suckling twins. This painting was inspired by a bronze portal from the San Zeno Cathedral in Verona, showing both Ishtar and the Greek Gaia (Earth Goddess) nursing their children. In Hebrew Ishtar or Astarte's name translates as 'grove' and she is often shown as the Tree of Life. Ishtar's lover was the god Dumuzi. Ishtar and her brother Utu were twins.
In America so called 'Hero Twins' or 'Warrior Twins' are particularly prolific. They are sometimes called 'Twins of the Sun' in pueblo myths from the Southwestern part of the USA.
Twins appear in Rock Art as well: twinned flute players and other sets of twins.
ROCK ART TWIN PETROGLYPHS
An interesting aspect of myths about twins is the notion that they were originally united in the womb but forced apart at birth; thus constituting a single person they belong together as such need to be reunited, difficult as that is.
SOUL MATES?
In this sense twins represent the two sides of human nature, such as masculine/feminine, introvert/extrovert. This polarity has been expressed in stories that relate to the nature of the soul and to sexuality.
SYMMETRY
Among the pre-Incan culture of Peru, the Creator God was called Atachuchu, 'Lord of the Twins'. He produced the first man as a magical projection of his own double. (Think of the Bible: God creating man in his own image).
The world over first-born twins are generally seen as benevolent, but they may also be presented as adversaries. In Nigeria it is a curse to say: 'May you be the mother of twins!'
The cliche says that (so called) primitive people won't have their picture taken for fear that their soul will be stolen. But it is not as simple as that. The image itself is the problem: it can serve as a potential reservoir, a medium capable of drawing vital and spiritual force from its original, transmitting impressions on it from afar. What is done to the image, is done to the owner. This, of course, it the base for voodoo spells and effigies.
A primary danger posed by doubles is illustrated by Greco-Latin myth of Narcissus. Narcissus is a beautiful young man who falls in love with his own reflection. He sits by the fountain (or pond) all day, staring at himself. (Here is where the term 'narcistic' comes from). In the story there is another twin-motif in the figure of Echo. Echo is a nymph who repeates what the gods have said, so other gods can hear it. She falls in love with Narcissus. However, Narcissus rejects her due to his self-absorption. Echo calls down a curse on Narcissus and pines away until only her voice remains. Narcissus jumps in the water to reach his own image and drowns.
NARCISSSUS AND ECHO
In its metamorphic aspect (i.e. expressing change), the Twin becomes the Double, an identity capable of assuming a wide range of monstrous and nightmarish forms. (Think of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide!) Our attachment to the unity of the ego ('I am myself and myself alone') is challenged every night when the ego dissolves into the dream-state. Dream-images are commonly viewed as animated fragmentation of the psyche. When the same thing happens while people are fully awake it results in hallucination or schizophrenia.
At its extreme the bloodsucking Double is the vampire. In fact the vampire is the Double which has vanquished its original other.Therefore it has no reflection.
The supreme case of twinning occurs in scapegoats. The sacrificial Double. The one who suffers and dies in place of another.
If all of this sounds extreme and hypothetical, think of a hot and very controversial issue right now: cloning! (And all the rights, wrongs and risks of cloning).
Twins have only just started to appear in my paintings. It is a subject I hope to explore further.
