The Quotable Sideshow
"Pamela Joseph examines the parallel expectations of women in society: mother and sex object, virgin and whore, idolized and vilified. She is at once goddess and monster, and this creative, engaging exhibition shines a bright light in the face of these dichotomies, urging the viewer to consider his or her own perceptions. Plus, it's a whole lot of fun."
–Joy Armstrong,
Fine Arts Center Colorado Springs, 2014
“In this show, the truly terrifying implications are the aspects that cannot be confined to a carnival tent… When Joseph presents the non-normative as aspects of the female body, the comforting freak show us/them dichotomy fades.”
––Kristie Betts, Boulder Weekly,
2001
“Joseph has found the right tone: the innately creepy nature of the low-rent, high-wattage carnival, where sleight-of-hand competes with bait-and-switch.”
––Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News, 2001
“Capitalizing on our collective fascination with travelling carnivals, peep shows and freakish physical oddities, Pamela Joseph’s Sideshow of the Absurd is a brilliant, humorous and thought-provoking exhibit.”
— Larry McCarthy, The Times (Northwest Indiana), 2001
“The Sideshow of the Absurd…..is undisputedly unique and fresh. Its surrealistic atmosphere, combined with Joseph’s strong social commentary make it a multi-layered exhibition. Brilliant, humorous, and
silly.”
––Anna Angeli, New Mexico Daily Lobo, 2001
“This dense exhibition is filled with jabs and parries aimed at women’s roles, self-consciousness and appearance anxieties. The whole show is a metaphor for American culture’s predilection to embrace illusion in favor of reality.”
––Wesley Pulkka, The Albuquerque Sunday Journal, 2002
“The Sideshow of the Absurd focuses on something that to some is just as frightening as watching a guy eat broken glass: feminism. Through several attractions inspired by sideshow facts and fiction, Joseph visually discusses virginity, pornography, traditional roles for women, the ways that people can be seen as freaks and the differences between advertising and reality.”
— Dallas Observer Calendar, 2002
“This edgy, freak show of an exhibition proves to be much more than a low-rent thrill ride… Part of Ms. Joseph's aim is to equate the self-contained sideshow with today's museums, which also often focus on the unusual or unique...”
— Mike Daniel, The Dallas Morning News, 2002
“Joseph explores the territory of tabloid superstitions and popular beliefs in a series of elaborately staged, astonishingly energetic installations. The results are wildly entertaining… (The Sideshow of the Absurd) is fun, smart, and often hilarious…”
––Christine Biederman, Dallas Observer, 2002
“We don’t believe for a minute (that Joseph’s) mechanical performers demonstrate mere feats of flexibility or strength. What’s being stretched here are the sexual stereotypes within which we imprison ourselves. What’s being flexed is art’s power to overturn the institutional assumptions that so often blind us in the face of injustice. Joseph’s notion of the absurd comes suddenly close to home.”
— Buzz Spector, artist
“Joseph’s installation does more than just trot out human oddities for the perusal of the mob. The sideshow subtly plays tag with issues of violence, domestication, reproduction, and equality.”
— Audra Schroeder, Broward-Palm Beach New Times, 2003
“Pamela Joseph is something of a three-ring attraction herself. She draws, sculpts, orchestrates sound and lights, and pens lowbrow stories as come-ons for some of her contraptions. Her detailed Ball Toss, which is at first glance hilarious, is actually juggling imagery of extinct species and girlie shows, blending balmy scenes of exotica with scenarios of violence and loss that finally turn into an unsettling game.”
––Beth Dunlop, The Miami Herald, 2003
“Easily the most bizarre show to hit South Florida in a very long time. And I mean that in a good way, at least for museum-goers with a sense of humor and a sense of adventure.”
––Michael Mills, Broward-Palm Beach New Times, 2003
“Pamela Joseph’s Sideshow of the Absurd … explores the role and power of women in 21st-century Western society. The exhibition’s title intimates the ultimate meaning of the installation: that the century-old tradition of viewing humans with unusual physical properties as entertainment is not only absurd, but tells far more about the viewers and their culture than the attractions being viewed.”
—Barbara Bloemink, PhD, 2001
