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Further into Imperfecta Living Curiosities: Agency and Exploitation of the Teratological Body Curiosity draws us to the monstrous. But seeing is believing: whether in a book, a museum, or in a show, for centuries people have flocked to see “monsters” for themselves. In the 19th century, many people born with non-normative bodies performed as “freaks” in circus sideshows. Circuses became a sensation and they served as a forerunner to the modern entertainment industry. This exhibit explores the lives of the performers and showmen whose livelihoods depended on the public’s curiosity about seeing wondrous bodies for themselves. Seeing is Believing: Visualizing the Teratological Body When it comes to the wondrous, seeing is believing. From this page, you can explore some of the ways that “monsters” have been depicted over the centuries. Woodcuts in early modern texts, preservation in medical museums, and photography all have been used to display people. These technologies allowed one person’s image to travel across the world and allowed their subjects to “survive” beyond death. What Does It Mean to be "Other?" What does it mean to be a “monster?” What does it mean to be “normal?” These are not objective categories. They have changed meaning throughout history as people have become exposed to a wider diversity of nature, people, and ideas. From this path, you can explore some types of “Otherness” that have, throughout history, challenged apparently objective categories and shaped the direction of science.

Violetta

Aloisia (Violetta) Wagner (born 1906/1907, date of death unknown), better known by her stage name Violetta, was born without legs or arms with a condition known as tetra-amelia syndrome. She was born in Hemelingen, Germany, and had a lengthy career in sideshow performance. On March 23, 1924 she left her birth city of Bremen-Hemelingen, Germany with her stepbrother and manager, Karl Grobecker, aboard the SS George Washington which arrived in New York on April 3, 1924. According to the ship manifest, Aloisia had blonde hair and green eyes, was 3 feet tall, and was allowed into the U.S. for 25 weeks to work for Samuel W. Gompertz in his Dreamland Circus Side Show.[3] She is shown to be the daughter of Elise Wagner, of Hemelingen, Moltkestr 26. The manifest's "Held For Special Inquiry" page shows that both were held (in hospital) for one day before being allowed to enter the U.S. Other pages of the manifest from this ship show many members of the John Robinson Circus (see American Circus Corporation), which was later acquired by the John Nicholas Ringling, Violetta's later employer. For many years Aloisia performed in several sideshows and Freak shows as a singer and oddity, including Coney Island's Dreamland, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and the Mighty Haag Circus. A 1925 photo (shown on page) shows her performing at the World Museum (freak show) in Los Angeles. According to his biography, famed writer Jean Cocteau visited Violetta at Luna Park, Paris in 1927, describing her as "a stubborn German woman." In 1929, the Belgium surrealist journal Variétés published a photo of Violetta. Wallace Stort of the London Life Magazine wrote of her several times. Stort's 1940 article is the last known publication referencing Violetta, describing in detail how she moved herself by hopping from place to place on the bottom of her torso, and was able to manipulate objects with her mouth enough to comb her own hair, dress herself, thread a needle, and sew. Stort also stated that Violetta was married and wore her wedding band on a gold chain around her neck, though no other information about her husband can found. Description from Wikipidia

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Performers and Photography In the 1860s, photography was a new technology. Traveling circuses adopted it to create and sell pictures of performers, often staged in professional studios. Freak show performers often dressed up either in very fancy dress or in costume, and they posed with props that often accentuated their abnormality. Photographs were then printed as postcards and sold at circuses and museums. Visitors could either collect the postcards or send them to people who were not able to see the circus themselves. Some performers, like Chang and Eng Bunker, had a great deal of say in how these photographs were posed and how they were presented within them. This was not true for all performers, but many did find photography to be a meaningful way to take control of how their bodies were presented and seen by others.