This song by Smashing Pumpkins has been my sanity the past 2 days. While driving back to Cowtown from Douglasville I had my third mini nervous breakdown this semester and this song came on the radio and it seemed like everything got better. It reminds me of a simpler time and it made me realize that no matter what, I will make it through. So after my 4th mini breakdown which occurred tonight in the printing lab I came home, turned that song on, crawled into my pjs, made some warm apple cider and have completed my artist statement. I feel a little better now that I completed something that I needed to get done. And for those who have waited, here it is. Please give me feedback so that I can continue to improve upon it.
Performers past and present have different classifications for themselves; past performers would be classified by “oddities” or “working acts”, while contemporary performers break off into even smaller groups—sideshow “freaks”, “carnies”, and “circus performers.” Though there are still “oddities” active in contemporary times, most performers would be classified as “working acts” which learn and perfect acts such as juggling, hula hooping, sword swallowing, and fire eating, but within these “working acts” the performers classify themselves further by how extreme their acts are.
The sideshow performers had only two classifications in the past—“oddities” and “working acts.” The oddities were the performers that had physical deformities. Two of the most famous examples of “oddities” would be Joseph Merrick “the Elephant Man” and Stephan Bibrowsky “Lionel.” These men, like most other oddities, were unable to find suitable work due to their abnormalities. Merrick had difficult times moving around and was unfit for salesmanship, like he had once tried, due to his appearance. Bibrowsky was highly intelligent, speaking five different languages, and was considered a perfect gentleman, but due to his appearance, his mother supposedly saw him as an abomination and gave him to the exhibitor “Meyer” at the age of four. Both of these “oddities” had quite lucrative careers, Bibrowsky earning around $500 a week at the peak of his show in the early twentieth. Unlike Merrick, Bibrowsky was able to do some physical activities such as gymnastics, and he did these as part of his performance, but he was not considered a “working act.”
“Working acts” consisted of the performers such as the sword swallowers and the fire eaters/breathers that would do quite dangerous stunts to make up for their lack of physical deformities. Some of the “working acts” would also create their own “deformities” by partaking in body modifications such as full body tattoos. The “working acts” possess skills and talents that can require years of practice to perfect. Some of the more famous of these performers would be Jim Lucky Ball II who earned the title of the youngest sword swallower at age 12 and Melvin Burkhart, the first Human Blockhead. While Lucky Ball II was born to parents that were sword swallowers, Burkhart attempted his blockhead routine after having his nose broken in a boxing fight. “Working acts” allowed physically normal people to step into the role of the “freak.”
The photographic works in “Contemporary Carnie” explore what it means to be a performer, a re-invented carnie—those belonging to a subculture of individuals who possess physical and behavioral abnormalities and generally drives society to ignore, shun, avoid, fear and marginalize. By focusing on the practice space as compared to the performance space, this series is a glimpse into the personal lives and family lives of the carnies as a way to bring a human element to the performers.
Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow in the printing lab.
~*~Hayley~*~
