SINCE FIRST EVER CIRCUS
campaigns and magazine assignments, has stuck to British and Irish circuses because he loves how the glamour and grit live side by side.
Since 1968 he has travelled thousands of miles to capture the images and is still blown away by the entertainers’ ability to perform for hundreds of people before tucking up for the night in a caravan just yards away.
He added: “I just really love the theatre of it all. They don’t get to go home like other entertainers. They put on a wonderful act and then go back to their caravan.
“What other entertainer performs his act and sets his own stage while living a few steps away from his public? I was taking a picture of this mud-covered caravan recently when the owner of the circus came up and said he had loads of much better caravans. But that’s not the point. That’s not what it is about.”
Unlike the performers who are drawn to life on the road, Peter never had a desire to join the circus as a child. But he did end up living “like a vagabond” as he started following them to complete a photography project he started while he was at the Royal College of Art. And Peter is happy to see a new wave of interest in the circus. He said: “I think it has got a bigger future than ever. There are lots of kids who want to join the circus these days. For a new wave of people it’s not as ungroovy as it was to be in the circus as it was 30 years ago.” It’s clear Peter is still hooked. But then he would be. For, as one clown said to the other: “I love circuses... the excitement’s in tents!” vikki.white@trinitymirror.com Contortionist Sapo, from Brazil, bent over backwards for fans in Blackpool in 2008
Circus Work by Peter Lavery is available online from info@handheldimage. com for £38 plus delivery. More information from peterlavery.com
I love the theatre, all the sounds and the smells LAVERY ON LURE OF THE BIG TOP