sideshow beauties

come one, come all …

Circus sideshows were once the most curious and peculiar forms of pre-WWI entertainment. Their spirit lives on through the media; television series and interest pieces that occasionally surface, reviving the timeless fascination, and repulsion, of the classic American sideshow.

Sideshow Beauties are a one-of-a-kind, “rare hare,” creative exhibit of deconstructed (and reconstructed in various ways) dolls purchased on trips to antique stores and yard sales across West Virginia. The intention was to bring about an appreciation for the history and social aspects behind 20th-century sideshow performances through the dolls’ unique stories and packaging. These dolls evoke the classic western traveling medicine shows, old carnival rides and games, etc. 

dolls and packaging

Both pageantry and freak shows capitalize on the physical appearances of their participants while deceiving audiences with ideas that they are more than meets the eye; the "elephant woman" in actuality is little more than a woman with a disease causing enlarged limbs, while the "beauty queen" is abnormally thin and does not exhibit "real" beauty.

research process

This project was based upon the idea of the uncanny and how it can be unsettling to the unacquainted. Original inspirations included: circus sideshows (as created by P.T. Barnum) and vaudeville, steampunk cultures, conspiracy theories, and psychological behavioral patterns.

Research goal: tying sideshows and pageants together, finding discrepancies among 20th century and modern sideshows, and spark curiosity among many different audiences. By bringing these two worlds together, "fan bases" of both worlds were able to see the similarities and differences between the "beauties" and the "freaks," creating a new hybrid following.

Artistic process

The design of the exhibit echoes the aesthetics of early sideshows while appealing to modern audiences.

The production process included the creation of "new" mutated dolls from pieces of other dolls, hand-crafted packaging, as well as the development of intriguing narratives and banner art for each doll in order to relay the idea that both the dolls and the packaging were equally important to the storyline.

Doll collection

Almost everyone is familiar with either pageantry and/or freak shows. As research into 1890s circus performances reveals, women began to have more roles in society leading up to and beyond WWI, and their overall societal image began to evolve. From the virgin, Porcelain doll, pin-up image, with its unrealistic body proportions, to the circus freak, both attractive and grotesque — the female body and its beauty and purpose became front and center in the changing landscape of American culture.