Birgit Püve – Double Matters

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Estonian photographer Birgit Püve portrays identical twins and triplets
with an aim to explore the meaning of similarity and identity
in a world that celebrates uniqueness.

Birgit Püve says "Working closely with physically
similar people is undoubtedly intriguing for an artist.
But for a photographer, it is much more difficult
to capture two or even three people in a single frame."

The photographs of multiples challenge the viewer to analyse
the relationships between two or three persons who look alike,
but whose personalities differ greatly. The double portraits offer not only
unusual perspective on the subjects constantly reflecting each other, but also
encourage an inner monologue.

Birgit Püve's book was selected among
25 best designed Estonian books of 2013 in February, 2014.
More information about the contest here.

Surprisingly many twins told Birgit that they feel like they are almost like a same person with their twin.
That gave us an idea to cover the book with material that reminds mirror to give

the viewer of the book a reflection of themselves.

In the end we did not have a chance to make this mirrorcover a reality, so we solved the cover with an image. One half of the image is on front cover and the other half stretches to the back cover.

Pages of the book are clean, classical and let the images play the primary role.

There was a challenge to give photos space to let them stand out and live their lives so there is time to look and feel. The other task was to find a way to connect photos and text the way that doesn't distract viewing photos, but still gives these personal texts an important role.