As the name implies, Ere-Ibeji are effigies carved as memorials to twins who have died. The incidence of twin births is extraordinarily high among the Yoruba peoples, but so is infant mortality. In 1830, the British explorer Richard Lander encountered mothers carrying carved wood figures, which he understood were little memorials. Twins are believed to be the children of Shango, the god of thunder and lightning. They are also thought to possess supernatural powers and share the same soul. A memorial figure serves as a receptacle for half of the shared soul. Although representing deceased infants or children, ere ibeji depict them as adults in the prime of life. Each figure is dressed and adorned according to the gender, social status and religious affiliation of the twin for which it stands.

In the painting, the background is painted in indigo to symbolize as  wealth and prosperity just like as the original effigies washed with indigo dye .

The mother of a departed twin carries an ere ibeji tucked in her wrapper and treats it as a live infant in the belief that to deny twins--Shango's children--is to court their wrath. Thus, to forestall grave misfortune, the sculptures are bathed, rubbed with oil, clothed and adorned. They are kept in the family's twin altar or in a gourd container with paraphernalia used in Shango worship.