Laughter for charity

I can tell why a lot of children are scared of clowns. Put simply, they’re kinda creepy with their permanent grins and wild hair – a veritable fun house of pathologies. It didn’t help that a lot of titles you could rent from the Betamax shop before were B-movie schlock like Killer Klowns from Outer Space and Funhouse. Even one of America’s most notorious serial killers, John Wayne Gacy, worked as a clown for children’s parties. Not a particularly good thought to tuck you in at night.

However, my view has changed. Last Monday, I attended an exhibit organized by the Alliance Française de Manille and The French Embassy in Manila entitled Clowns Sans Frontières (Clowns Without Borders). Composed of photographs taken by three distinct visual artists (Juan Caguicla, Cristina Sevilla and Bahaghari), it documents the performances of French circus artists performing for poor communities around the country. Armed with only their face paint, props and antics, these entertainers don’t communicate with words but manage to coax smiles and laughs from their audience. Composed mostly of children, the crowds look enthralled at the show, forgetting frowns to act their age again. Looking at the photographs, I can’t imagine anybody not getting involved as well with the pristine beauty of the moments captured.

The fact that different photographers chronicle the shows only makes the viewer appreciate the experience even more. Bahaghari’s work emphasizes the colorful interaction of the performers with their audience, suspending the spectacle indefinitely like jeweled moments. Sevilla focuses on the kids themselves, preferring to observe the wonder through their eyes. Caguicla concentrates his gaze past the illusion and goes behind the smoke and mirrors to reveal the true magic. Seen from these various viewpoints, one begins to appreciate the spectrum of emotions evoked by this charitable act.

Currently on display in the Greenbelt 3 Lobby, Clowns Sans Frontières is a display of the best of humanity. It’s quite impossible to view the pictures at the exhibition and not be moved by smiles of these children. The performers have given these communities the sincerest form of charity – one that cannot be measured in its impact to those who benefited from it. That includes those of us who can only marvel at the heroics of these clowns.

I promise I shall never think ill of any clown ever again.