Twin Flames by Justin Aversano features a series of 100 consistent, but each slightly different, photographs of twins from around the world.
“Twin Flames” is a photographic exploration of the phenomenology of twins. From early in photography’s history, twins have been catalogued and investigated through photographic means; in medical journals and textbooks to the uncanny lens of artists such as Diane Arbus and Vivian Maier, twins have been a constant cultural fixation on the weird and preternatural that is prevalent across the genetic pool.
Photographer Justin Aversano’s own life and work is connected in a similar eldritch way, learning later in life that he is the surviving sibling of a set of fraternal twins, his twin sister having not developed properly in utero and causing his mother a partial miscarriage while they were in the womb. It was not until Justin began working with spiritual guides and psychics that he was able to reconnect with his lost twin sister, learning that part of her still remains with him when he absorbed what he believes is her spiritual existence, which bonded with him and has continued on as a part of him, later leading him to create this body of work.
“Twin Flames” is a collection of 100 sets of twins, both identical and fraternal, that Justin sought out in order to better understand his own place within the narrative of this unique genetic occurrence. By photographing twins across a variety of photographic formats, while allowing them to set the circumstances of their environment and visual representation, Justin believes this project allows for a greater understanding of twins as a not outliers in our world, but as unique manifestations of the multiplicity of the self in both the physical and spiritual realms.
