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The porpuse of Fausto Polo on creating this website about Ibeji was to share his knowledge and all the data collected during decade of work. 

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Fausto Polo, native of Turin, during the 1990s, when he was already passioned about African art, increased his knowledge and became an expert of Youruba art, in particular about an incredible and renowned Yoruba artistic and cultural tradition now known as the art of the Ibeji twins (or ere-ibeji).

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Between 2001 and 2005 Fausto wrote the Catalogue of the Ibeji divided into 2 volumes, created in collaboration with Jean David, a well-known Swiss gallerist. The book had an immediate success and it became a must have for Ibeji lovers, as it was a classification of Ibeji, identifying their place of origin using its sculptural characteristics and particularities.

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After the success of the Catalogue, Fausto continued to study in deep the art of the ibeji and he start writing a new manual, the Encyclopedia of the Ibeji. Meanwhile started the collaboration with Michele Maranzana, already a longtime friend of him and collector, who was approaching the art of the ibeji. From this collaboration, to develop the marketing of the Encyclopedia they created a new web platform called IbejiArt.

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Published during 2008 in English, French, Italian and German, the Encyclopedia of the Ibeji was a great success. Differently from his previous books, the Encyclopedia is a real manual both for a beginner and an expert that teach the story of the ibeji, with different charapter dedicated to different characteristics, and also a part dedicated to the evalueation, with pratical example. All these charapter are followed by over 500 photos of ibeji, classified by their place of provenance and with the indication about the height, the rarity and the carver, when known

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The first version of IbejiArchive was created with the support and work of Mauro Polo, son of Fausto, and relasead during the last months of 2008. Over the years different people around the world contancted Fausto asking about their ibeji provenience and value. In addition to issuing them the Certificate of Authenticity, the photos and data of these ibeji were used to enlarge the collection of Archive.

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During the first part of 2017 Fausto published with IbejiArt his last book, 150 Masterpieces from 2000 Expertises, that is a fotografic book about the best 150 expertise of African Art that he made in over 30 year of work as an expert.

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Few months after his pubblication, in the last moths of 2017 Fausto left us suddenly, leaving a deep void to all the people who knew and loved him. His son Mauro, who had actively supported his father for a decade with great skill and passion, has carried on IbejiArchive, the collaboration with Michele and IbejiArt and, above all, the love that Fausto had for ibeji.

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All of a sudden, in the first part of 2020, with all the sadness of his family and friends, Mauro passed away.

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The knowledge and passion for Ibeji and African art is now carried forward by Lorenzo Polo, Mauro's son, who also led to the renewal of the website of IbejiArchive.

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