The Aerialist

The Aerialist 2005

Bronze Unique

Inspired by Fuller’s family history of theatrical performance, The Aerialist commemorates her great-grandmother Charlotte, known as Lottie, who performed as an aerial gymnast as a young woman.

Charlotte belonged to a family of professional performers who toured internationally, appearing in theatres across Europe, Russia, America and Japan. Surviving family photographs and theatrical posters document their lives as travelling performers. They were not circus performers in the conventional sense, but highly trained aerialists and gymnasts whose individual acts formed part of theatrical and variety programmes.

The sculpture draws upon that history without attempting to make a portrait of Charlotte. Suspended in movement, the figure is concerned with the physical discipline of the aerialist: balance, strength, risk and the extraordinary control required to make a dangerous act appear graceful.

The Aerialist also belongs to Fuller’s continuing exploration of balance in sculpture, in which the apparent instability of the figure is fundamental to its sense of movement and presence.