Liese Ricketts

"Ricketts, who speaks fluent Spanish and has relatives in Peru, resided and worked in the country from 1971 to 1983. In 2010, she visited six circuses on the outskirts of Lima and took more than 90 photos with her Hasselblad and Rolleiflex cameras. A selection of these images will be featured at the Dittmar this summer.

Many of the families pictured are the direct descendants of circus performers who were born into this world of itinerant artists. Others depict their young children, who feed the circus animals and carry circus supplies when they are not in school.

According to Ricketts, the family circuses are nomadic in part because the municipal security workers tear down their tents at night for the fear that the nomadic circus families might lay claim to the land.

"These very poor family circuses come from a long line of performers who have done the same thing for generations," said Ricketts, who hopes that her photographs foster respect for the circus performers. "I was moved by the dignity of their lives and their struggle to move forward."

Quote taken from this article.