Stunning images and thoughtful essays map out parts of the artist’s own transition during the process of bringing a small piece of queer circus history back to life in LE NUMÉRO BARBETTE, an aerial straps homage to the enigmatic Barbette – a gender-bending aerialist who graced the stages of European cabarets and music halls 100 years ago.

Blending queer history with contemporary reflections on gender, performance, and transition, this work asks us to consider the relationships between risk and spectacle in relation to a body in transition. LE NUMÉRO BARBETTE –and its documentation through this book– is an exultant reminder that queer and trans people have always been here; that these ways of being in the world that have always existed and have value; and that strange beauty can be found in everything, if we are only willing to expand our ways of seeing the world.

This research, choreography, and documentation was made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. “SLOW CIRCUS: Barbette” is the second instalment in the SLOW CIRCUS series (the first volume was about VACUUM, Ess’s innovative latex contortion act).

This luxury hardcover edition will not receive a second print run.
Softcovers of this beautiful book arrive at the end of May 2024.
Stay tuned to get your hands on your copy!

What’s Inside:
A stunning new photo series created in collaboration with fine arts photographer Damian Siqueiros forms the visual centerpiece of this 8” x 10” collector’s book; still imagery from the filming day for the short film (2024) element of the project and the creation process (Kayla Jeanson; Mathieu Poirier; Guillermo Castellanos; and others) are archived here as well. New personals writings and essays from Ess Hödlmoser complete this collection.

Other stuff:
This is a one-person writing, producing, & shipping operation: please don’t hesitate to get in touch at look@strangewonderfulcreature.com with any questions or concerns regarding your order.

Shipping within Canada and the US generally takes 1 to 2 weeks; shipping to Europe, AUS, NZ currently takes 4 to 6 weeks. Shipping large-format physical books is a pricy endeavour & we’ve done our best to find the best shipping price we can to get you your book safely. As we learn & grow we’ll try to find new ways to get those shipping costs lower! If shipping is a cost barrier, be sure to keep an eye out for the digital copy coming Summer 2024.

Thanks in advance for your patience and support!

About the SLOW CIRCUS series:
The written word offers a level of depth and complexity into the inner workings of a circus artist’s embodied, often ephemeral work. Much writing about circus arts comes either from either external observers who love the art form, or from Circus Studies scholars; it is harder to find documentation of such work in the voice of the artists themselves. The SLOW CIRCUS series creates circus artifacts that can be held, revisited, appreciated, studied, and examined long after the show has ended and the lights have faded to black. SLOW CIRCUS: BARBETTE (2024) is the second instalment in the series. SLOW CIRCUS: VACUUM (2021) is the first.