Photographs of Conjoined Twins by Annabel Clark When doctors realized they could not separate the conjoined twins Carmen and Lupita Andrade, their mother, Norma, was devastated. She had traveled to the United States from their home in Veracruz, Mexico, specifically to save her daughters, then 2, from a lifetime of disability and ridicule. Years later, when Lupita and Carmen were old enough to understand that they had been brought to this country to be separated, they were stunned. "Mommy, why would you want to cut us in half?" they repeatedly asked. Annabel Clark met the twins two years ago while photographing for the Healing the Children Northeast, the charity that arranged the medical visa for Carmen, Lupita, their mother and their older sister, Abigail, in 2002. Together, the twins have four arms and two legs. They share a liver and reproductive organs. Their doctors could not separate them because they are fused at the base of their spine. On her first visit to their home in New Milford, Conn., Ms. Clark, 30, watched the twins do a somersault, run with remarkable speed and dexterity and play piano (Lupita plays with the left hand, Carmen with the right). She had expected that they would act differently from girls their age, but found they were pretty typical. "When I first saw them, I was surprised by how their physicality seemed to bear no weight on their personalities," she said. While the twins can act with great synchronicity, they have distinct personalities. Carmen is very funny and more dominant. Lupita is shy and reserved. Lupita loves animals and happy stories. When Ms. Clark visited them last week, Carmen was reading Anne Frank. Ms. Clark discovered that there was more than one way the twins were different from other children. Unlike most siblings, they never argue or fight. This project is not really about the physical bond that Carmen and Lupita share. It is about the nature of two people in a relationship with each other - in a very intimate way. Previously, Ms. Clark had photographed her mother, the late actress Lynn Redgrave, during her treatment and initial recovery from breast cancer. The project was published in The New York Times Magazine and then as a book "Journal: A Mother and Daughter's Recovery From Breast Cancer" by Umbrage Editions. In addition to her editorial work, Ms. Clark teaches photography workshops at The Creative Center, an organization that provides free art classes to people with cancer and other chronic illnesses. Ms. Clark decided to follow the twins over many years once she began to wonder what the future would hold for them. While they are happy 11-year-olds now, how will they experience the turmoil of adolescence as conjoined twins? Will they be able to fulfill their dreams as young adults? Ms. Clark says that despite Carmen and Lupita's rich personalities, most people find it difficult to get past their physical condition, or even to look at it directly. "If you saw them on the street you'd be tempted to look, but would probably look away to be polite," she said. With these pictures, I want to give people permission to look and engage with these two people and to show how normal they are. There's nothing scary about it. Nothing depressing. It's O.K. to look.