Payasas en la Luna

One of my favorite things about working with dolls is that they will always tell you a story.
Whether it is a story about the origin of their name (which traditionally is written on their bellies,) the woman or girl that owns her or her design, dolls are beautiful vessels that allow stories to travel.
Among my favorite ones is that of the trapeze suit. A few years ago, a woman from Russia who had been frantically looking for these dolls contacted me. She told me about the Russian circuses that visited Mexico City in the 1950s and the beautiful trapeze performers that inspired the suit design of the paper mache doll.
I used this story as inspiration and juxtaposed the trapeze clown dolls with Xicana clown dolls. The archetype of the Xican@ Clown, in particular, has hidden meanings and stories that often represent the complexity of a world where not everything is as it seems. Smile now, cry later. In native spiritualities, the clown is a trickster. One that changes forms and code switches to adapt/survive.