Patricia Park

Lady with Dove
archival pigment print
22 x 22 in.

I lived in a small Alpine village in the Bavarian mountains of Germany for many years. Every spring a traveling company of performers would set up at the edge of town. From a distance we would watch the vacant lot transform into a magical world encircled with exotic aromas of musty animal fur and manure. Up went the circular canvas tent and underneath, the rickety-tiered seating emerged around a ring in the dirt. An air of excitement and curiosity shrouded the village. Folks marveled at the trained animals, acrobats, tightrope walkers and jugglers. From my perspective, this was a pure art form with all the classical elements- not modern entertainment with slick technology. This was a faraway world; a nostalgic place of fading beauty that modern time had left behind. If this series of photographs conveys the feeling of the experience to the viewer, then something worth preserving has been saved.