Circus

Photos by Arvolyn Hill 

I have been to the circus twice in my life. When I was young with my mom and last week. Of the two times I have been I am always shocked that they still exist. Mostly because everything about them feels very vintage from the performers, costumes, and the animals. Especially this circus which showed in a small town it had a classic Americana feel. It was hard to see all the animals performing, even though they probably don't know a life other than the circus. After being in South Africa and seeing animals like elephants on safari who had a majestic presence. The elephants at the circus looked very tired and worn out (I found out they were 40 years old elephants!). One of my favorite of the day is the last one of them holding on to one another. This also goes for the children who were performers, though they looked like they were having a great time I couldn't imagine being a circus performer at 7. The most interesting and difficult thing I witnessed was the tiger in the box for photos. As though the tiger was a giant stuffed animal. I am not trying to bash this particular circus because I think this is the way the circus has always been, and many times way worse. But I just want to point out some things that I felt were interesting as subtext for the photos.