tilly and kizzy

Tilly and Kizzy are trapeze aerialists. I took this shot at 'Planet Circus' when it was visiting Clapham Common in South London. The women do not have a circus background. Their family home is in Norfolk and their dad runs a home improvement business. 

Kizzy, who was always into gymnastics, went to see the circus when she was young and fell in love with the place. Shortly after, she literally ‘ran away to the circus’ (with her parents' permission). She went into training and 3 weeks later, was performing on the trapeze. 

Tilly joined her a few years later and they now perform together as ‘The Gemini Sisters’ The women love their work, they love the fact that they get to travel all over the country as well as the sense of community that the circus gives them. It’s clearly an exciting job but as you can imagine, their work is also extremely dangerous. Every night Tilly and Kizzy risk their lives to create something beautiful. (That just happens to be 30 feet above the ground without a safety net or wire). Tilly told me that she gets nervous before every show, but the buzz that she gets from the performance makes it worth it. I was in awe of the inner-strength and bravery of these two women. You wouldn’t catch me on a trapeze, no way.