I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in the always-weird-and-wonderful Bisbee, Arizona, where I had the grand pleasure of experiencing Bisbee's newest artistic labor of love: The Freak Family Roadshow. And boy does it deliver! It has everything I love: Aliens! Gorillas! Guinea pigs! Vintage trailers! Freaky-but-cute babies! A wonderful DIY aesthetic! It's free to enter, and to keep the Freak Family memory alive, you can take as many photos as you want! There are also cool handmade t-shirts, tote bags, and posters for sale—which make perfect holiday gifts!
I even got to meet the artist, self-taught sculptor Jo Cunningham (pictured in one of the photos, below), who first conceived the idea for The Freak Family Roadshow in the summer of 2022, and then spent the last two years building it. Jo told me that she's originally from Brooklyn but moved down to Bisbee to build the Roadshow, which absolutely makes sense, since it's exactly the kind of art project that Bisbee–with all of its quirky and creative energy–feeds so perfectly.
In a description of the Roadshow posted on the front door of the trailer, Cunningham explains how she created the family:
The inner construction of the figures are a combination of newspaper, tin foil, duct tape, bits of trash, and paper mache. The gorilla's skin is tire inner tubes and her hair is sourced from an alpaca farm in New Mexico. The alien's skin is encaustic wax. The child's skin is a combination of the two materials.
Cunningham also provides info about the 1950s vintage trailer, which was restored by Jim Purvis of Lunar Landing, and the stunning banner hanging outside, which was painted by Scott Cunningham and Jonathan Ash in the "style of vintage freak show circus banners and based on an original composition by Jo." The trailer, the family, the banner–and even the wooden signs advertising the exhibit around the corner–are all so amazing, I fell instantly in love with The Freak Family Roadshow and I hope I can see it again soon!
I'm thrilled to report Jo has big plans to travel around the country displaying The Freak Family Roadshow—so if you can't get down to Bisbee to take a gander, the fam might be coming soon to a city near you. If you want to keep up with Jo Cunningham and The Freak Family, follow them on Instagram or on their website. And while you're waiting for the show to get on the road, enjoy some of the photos I took.




