NOGA SHTAINER

Twins - Duo Morality
(2009-2010)

The “Identical Twins” project was photographed in the village of Candido Godoi in the south of Brazil. The majority of the village’s residents arrived from Germany following World War I. The cause of the multiplicity of twin births in this village has led to worldwide research and pondering. One of the options considered was the involvement of Nazi physician, Dr. Mengele, who according to some testimonies escaped to this village following World War II. Some believe he used the knowledge he had acquired while performing experiments on Jewish twins during the Holocaust, in order to conduct research and clone twins in Candido Godoi. None of these suspicions have been con firmed, and the twin phenomenon remains a mystery to this day. I stayed in Candido Godoi for three weeks, during which I photographed ranging from two to eighty years of age. At first I searched for the joint identity and the bond that ex- ists between the twins. I tried to understand the intense connection created between them from the moment of birth, throughout the changes they experience during adolescence, and the complexity of the physical separation that takes place as they grow up, build a family and leave home. The similarities between the two gradually become the source of difference. The different facial expressions and body language convey the individual character and personality of each one of them. Slight apparent differences such as beauty marks, birthmarks or hair length become significant and valuable, to the point where life marks overcome genetics, and as years go by their resemblance becomes blurred and they appear to be less and less alike.