When discussing their performances, clowns will refer to their on-stage persona in the third-person. The act completely depersonalizes them not only in their own eyes, but also in the eyes of the audience. The make-up the clowns wear becomes masks that allow the performers to transform into someone (or something) completely different. The audience stops seeing different people in make-up and costumes and they start seeing the clowns as a collection of trinkets, all a little different but at the same time indistinguishable.

Lisa Pavlova’s Behind the Mask includes portraits of the world famous Slava’s Snow Show cast. Lisa created a makeshift studio steps away from the stage in Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (Miami, FL) and took images as actors were just leaving the stage after their final bow. The shoot happened on the last day the company was in Miami, a Sunday (which is a double show day) after four and a half weeks of 7 highly physically demanding shows a week. Lisa chose the end of the tour on purpose. Actors tend to always act in front of the camera. Bringing them for a sitting when they are extremely tired and coming down from the adrenalin of the show, allowed Lisa to capture them in the most vulnerable and honest state.

The viewer first sees the classic clown grotesque makeup, but further examination allows to notice the makeup is all sweated down, and the faces have the signs of exhaustion and emptiness in them. Now you don’t see just a stereotypical Pierrot anymore, but a person, a professional performer who just gave the audience everything they had.