Colombia: Little Big Top by Paul Smith

A boy sells toffee apples during an interval at the Sombrillita Circus. When the attendances are large, local children are allowed to enter the circus for free and paid a little to sell snacks to the audience. Around a dozen small circuses wander the poorer neighbourhoods near and around the city of Medellin putting on performances in what can be a hand to mouth existence. Despite falling audience numbers, new health and safety regulations and other bureaucracy these small family businesses,...
more »

A boy sells toffee apples during an interval at the Sombrillita Circus. When the attendances are large, local children are allowed to enter the circus for free and paid a little to sell snacks to the audience. Around a dozen small circuses wander the poorer neighbourhoods near and around the city of Medellin putting on performances in what can be a hand to mouth existence. Despite falling audience numbers, new health and safety regulations and other bureaucracy these small family businesses, many of whom have existed for generations, still scrape a living in a world where the people are more accustomed to being entertained by soap operas than by live entertainment.
« less