ABSTRACT

My biographical research on Loretta La Pearl, the first woman clown in America, is a case study of responding to the incomplete and biased nature of archives for women. Through my lens as a creative practitioner, I use the methodology of speculative biography as a means of countering the official archival gaps in Loretta’s story by re-deploying self-made archives of other circus women. I discuss the challenges of fragmentary records, speculation, authorial sympathy and intersectionality. In drawing on these creative methodologies, I am countering the incompleteness of circus archives and making visible the otherwise largely erased life of the first woman clown.

摘要

我对美国第一个女小丑洛雷塔·拉·珀尔（Loretta La Pearl）的传记研究是对妇女档案不完整和有偏见性质作出回应的案例研究。通过我作为创意从业者的视角，我使用投机传记的方法，通过重新部署其他马戏团女性的自制档案，来弥补洛雷塔故事中官方的档案空白。我讨论了零碎的记录，推测，作者的同情心和交叉性的挑战。在运用这些创造性方法论的过程中，我要对付马戏团档案的不完整之处，并使第一个女小丑本来可以抹去的生命变得可见。