BRATTLEBORO – Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts is honored and excited to present “Beyond Reason,” an exhibition of extraordinary stop-action images of burlesque dancers and circus performers by acclaimed New York-based photographer Amy Arbus.

There will be an opening and artist reception on Saturday from 5-7 p.m. The next day, there will be a short circus performance at the Brattleboro School of Dance, Mitchell • Giddings and the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) starting at 3 p.m., followed by an artist talk at 4 p.m. with Amy Arbus at Mitchell • Giddings.

After the pandemic, Arbus was able to take her curiosity and her camera to city festivals and traveling circuses, where she was fascinated by the contortionists, trapeze artists and acrobats.

Arbus says, “Richard Avedon taught me that if you go to a photo session and get only what you expect, it’s a failure… The audience, seeing the extraordinary performances of the actors, roar with laughter, gasp, cover their eyes and stare in disbelief. Meanwhile, I shoot at 10 frames per second to capture the action. I look for moments that happen so quickly that we don’t even consciously notice them.”

Mike Carroll, owner of the Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown, sums up Arbus’ triumphant exhibition perfectly: “With her camera, Amy Arbus has discovered bodies in the exquisite tensions of pain, desire and beauty. These subjects have made an almost cruel challenge to their own bodies to do something beyond reason.”

The gallery is located at 181-183 Main St.