Gemini: Twins

Mythologically inspired, but in a strange, mercurial way, with the past and the present jumbled together, and the symbolic and the tangible indistinguishable from one another...

The twins are Helen and Clytemnestra (the sisters of the 'traditional' Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux), or how I imagined them upon discovering that they were twins. Long before they became the scorned wife of Agamemnon and the alluring face that launched a thousand ships, I imagine them as curious and inseparable young siblings from a popular port town.

To that end, I have taken all of the mythological and astrological imagery and turned it into a practical modern setting. The ship, the caduceus, the winged creatures - they're all there. The port has been moved forward several thousand years, to when the north of Europe (here Belgium) had grown in economic significance. (The city of Bruges in Belgium is ruled by Mercury/Gemini, so it was a deliberate choice.)

But whatever the details, the overall theme is of the exploration of the unknown - of youth, with their lives ahead of them; of butterflies testing out their wings; of letting the tide take the passengers where it will.

Thanks to Meltys [link] for the vintage photo used for reference.