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Statement
BORN: TRIPLETS, LONDON, ENGLAND

I was born in Lambeth, South London on the 15th of November 1992. I’m one of triplets so I was born with my two sisters. Fionnuala was born one minute before me and Ciara was born one minute after. We were 28 weeks.

When people celebrate birthdays they talk about being spoiled. But for me, its when me and my sisters meet up and we have our birthday together. We celebrate the fact that we survived and we celebrate that we love each other. My birthday is about my sisters, or my girls as we call each other.

A lot of people talk about identity and labels and for me being labeled a triplet is now really important. When I was younger, I hated the T word but now. I’m really proud of my girls. I’m really proud of how connected we are with each other. I think it’s a really special thing.

We used to act when we were kids. We lived in Norwich and would take the train into Liverpool St to go uptown and audition. There’s one shop we used to go past and they had these mannequins which were just halves—so only hips and legs! And the half mannequins were wearing tutus and multi-colored crazy socks and the three of us would freak out. Everytime we came into London, we’d always see it and it laugh and it was really special.

And then we’d go to this goth market in Kensington High St. It was always a bit quirky–tutus and stockings and socks and goth. Fionnuala was goth for a while and Ciara was a metaler and I was punk. We were there alternative chicks. In my family, that was totally okay. They were a bit quirky, themselves.

So me with my Mohawk and Fin with the gothed out makeup and Ciara with metal band T shirts and drumming. Just me and my girls.

—Andrea Lavers

All images copyright Ellen Jacob

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