The circus comes to town.

The Lowry is pulling out all the stops for its tenth birthday, with the first art exhibition of its anniversary year suggesting a strong start. Circus is a new show from acclaimed art photographers Jonathan Anderson and Edwin Low, whose previous exhibitions have been shown at Tate Modern, the V&A and the National Portrait Gallery. In Circus, over 30 large-scale images portray various members of an international circus company. Made-up and in full costume, the performers are either shown in a series of static portrait shots or in motion, while performing. And while the latter images are breathtaking, the portrait photographs are perhaps the strongest – and strangest – of the bunch. ‘Circus performers have to be very disciplined and determined,’ said Anderson and Low. ‘But we think that inside they can be quite melancholy. We want to capture this strange mixture of hard work, artistry, happiness and sadness.’

To capture just that, Anderson and Low placed their portrait subjects in the slightly incongruous setting of an amusement park. So we see three impeccably dressed ballerinas astride a rocket ride; the serious, white painted-face of an athletic trampoline performer atop the sort of horse normally found on a carousel; and then the same man again, with his colleagues, posed in front of the dodgems. The images are both unsettling and, occasionally, comic – except that none of the circus troupe are laughing. Because of that, Anderson and Low have created an uncomfortable distance between the subject of the photographs and the viewer; they have cleverly replicated the distance between the pain and discipline endured by performers, and the easy pleasure of circus punters sitting snugly in their ringside seats.

The first major showing of Anderson and Low’s figurative colour series, the exhibition includes another first: the pair’s first ever film installation. Motion is a three-screen video work that focuses on Pasha, an aerial silk performer. Like the circus performers who stare out from the accompanying photographs, Pasha looks both at ease and unreal: the precision and apparent effortlessness of his movements at odds with the reality of what he is doing, suspended in mid-air, using only his body to propel himself through a sequence of incredibly demanding moves. It is an insight into an alien world, or one only usually seen from afar, with greasepaint and lights obscuring the view. It makes for fascinating viewing.

Circus runs at The Lowry until 11 April 2010. Free entry.

Main image: Sergiy Tumbler on Derby Racer Ride © Anderson & Low

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