Circus Sideshow Nesting Dolls

These are a set of sideshow nesting dolls that I just finished painting. I used acrylic paint and then coated them with crystal clear. They were really fun to paint and now I want to paint more! It's so much easier to buy and paint the wooden ones than to sculpt my own!

I've always been fascinated with circus sideshows, but not necessarily circus related things in general. The fact that humans were on display like they were monsters horrifies me. It's definitely appalling but what fascinates me is all the reasons that those people did that. Sure, some were sold to the circus against their will, but so many loved that they found a place where they were not only accepted but exalted for what made them different. There were even people willingly doing things to themselves to become "freaks".

Not that I could possibly understand what some of these lifestyles would and can be like but a small part of me can relate. As a child I had very light blonde eyebrows, eyelashes and hair (which has not darkened as much as I'd hoped it would) so a lot of  kids in school often asked me if I was an albino, or they would tell me that I was. And I wasn't so sure that I wasn't:

I've never been the epitome of grace. Why did they let me pose my hands like that?!!

If I was around in the late 1800s and had any musical talent then maybe I could have been in this albino sideshow act band:

A girl can dream.
Cammi