Circus Acrobats, New York 1936

Ilse Bing took this photograph of circus acrobats in New York, and you know, it feels like she's capturing not just a performance, but a kind of precarious balance we all try to achieve in life. Look at the way the figures are arranged. There are bodies stacked on top of bodies, suspended in mid-air. Bing must have been thinking about how to capture this fleeting moment of human connection and risk. What about all those lines criss-crossing the frame? They give the image a chaotic energy, as if anything could happen. There’s almost a sense of vertigo as they seem to defy gravity. I imagine the circus as a giant, slightly dangerous playground, where artists push the limits of their bodies, inviting us to witness the impossible. When I look at this, I think of other artists who explore the human form, like Egon Schiele for example, but with the drama turned up! It's this constant conversation, each artist responding to the past while inventing a new language for the future.