Have you ever been told by anyone that you look like someone else? Well, considering the fact that there are over 7 billion people in the world and apparently the elements of our facial features have not changed much since the stone age, it is pretty much inevitable to have our own “twin” somewhere in this immensely huge world. A research also states that there are at least 7 people who look like us.
This look-alike phenomenon is often called ‘”sosie” in French, referring to the play “Amphitryon” written by Plauto, which has a character named Mercury who has to mimic another character named Sosia. Mercury did a fantastic job of it that Sosia himself was quite unsure which version of him is the real one; hence the word sosie. It is also called “doppelgaenger” in German, which literally means “double goer” and has a superstitious belief revolving around it: meeting your doppelgaenger is believed to be a sign of bad luck, because it means that you have met your evil twin.
Interested in this phenomenon, a canadian photographer Francois Brunelle made a project titled “I’m not a look-alike!” which is a black-and-white photograph compilation of people all over the world who look like each other although they are unrelated and separated miles, miles away.
It started out as one of his acquaintances worked for a man and woman who looked like each other, Francois then took a photograph of them and it became the first picture for the project. It has taken 12 years (what a commitment!) to track down these 200 look-alikes. He set up a website that became a platform where people could suggest some doppelgaengers they know, or, they could request to find their own look-alike.
Francois conveyed that we would be surprised to know how many people in the world want to meet their doppelgaengers. During these 12 years, Francois has received numerous calls (mostly from China) requesting him to find their own “twins.” Francois, too, has already found his look-alike, who turned out to be Rowan Atkinson, the Mr. Bean star.
One of the reasons for his choice of taking black and white photos for his project is because the they emphasize facial structures rather than skin or hair colors, which are less-essential for the project.
Until today, over 200 people have been photographed and Francois is still looking for doppelgaengers all over the world. After when the photographs have been compiled, there will be an exhibition and book-launching for this project the following year.
What a crazy project and such a devoted photographer. Definitely looking forward to the exhibition and the book!
Text by Siti Hartinah Putri
