Tvillingsong

Tvillingsong (English: Intertwine) is the companion book of a documentary film with the same name. Both are made by Norwegian artist Anne Tveit Knutsen. The book won the Gold award in Norway’s Most Beautiful Books of the Year 2022, the abC Art Book Award in 2022, and was selected as one of the 100 best designs of 2021 by Design 360.


The protagonists in Tvillingsong are two female twins with interlectual developmental disorders, Eli and Toril. They live in the West of Norway where, in the film, we follow them into their post-middle-age lives. Unexpectedly, Toril dies of illness before the film is finished, leaving Eli facing the world alone. The dialogues in the book turn into monologues of Eli. They are full of incomprehension of death and perplexity for the future. Fortunately, she is obsessed with drawing. The book has a cover and inserts, which are all prints of the original drawings of Eli. The book is written in Norwegian and Chinese. Anne Tveit Knutsen imitates the Chinese characters in the book, which she actually can’t understand, and in this way, simulates a dimension of the twin’s relationship to the outer world.

  • Anne Tveit Knutsen is a Norwegian artist primarily working with videos and artist’s books. She graduated with a master’s degree from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design in 2004. Previously, she was trained and qualified as a nurse. This experience has had a profound influence on her artistic work. As an artist, she focuses on people in different stages of life and endeavors to ensure that all individuals, regardless of resources, life circumstances, or positions, are treated with the same respect in society. The people she encounters, the intricate relationships they have with their surroundings, and the injustices that exist in society are her strongest motivation and inspiration. She is particularly drawn to individuals and groups who do not always have the loudest voices.