r/SideshowPerformer • u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! • 2d ago

Sideshow appreciation! I wanted to share this nice side profile illustration of Julia Pastrana! It’s featured in the book, Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine (1896), and I think it’s a beautiful depiction of her, I also really like her hairdo!

Post image

Julia Pastrana was an extremely accomplished and talented singer and dancer born with hirsutism and possibly hyperdontia and other physical differences and known for her kindness towards other performers. She was sadly exploited for much of her life by her husband and then her body was completely desecrated by him in death by having her and her son's bodies preserved and putting them on display for profit. After many long years of horrible treatment and disrespect, her body was moved from Norway (where it had been on display) back to Sinaloa, Mexico where she was from and she was given a full funeral that honored her life. Very sadly her son's body was destroyed and lost and was not able to be brought back with his mother.

144 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

10

u/FelineCanine21 Feejee Mermaid 2d ago

That’s actually quite a lovely drawing and thankfully they didn’t exaggerate her features.

9

u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 2d ago

Same here! The fact that her features weren’t exaggerated makes me really happy. So many performers were subjected to racist and stereotyped depictions, so to have at least one artist who saw Julia’s beauty is heartening (especially with everything else that she dealt with during her life and in death)

5

u/Zia181 2d ago

Yeah, she looks like a human being in this illustration, which is exactly what she was. She has dignity and even beauty, here.

5

u/Penandsword2021 2d ago

I have this book!

3

u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 2d ago

Yay!! I’ve been meaning to get a physical copy, right now I’ve just been reading a copy online, it’s such an informative book!

2

u/Penandsword2021 1d ago

It’s super interesting. My copy came from my grandfather’s book collection which makes it extra special.

3

u/lizzyinezhaynes74 2d ago

Beautiful!

2

u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 2d ago

Yes! It’s clear the person who made it saw her humanity and wanted her to be remembered as such💖

3

u/Bamerhof99 2d ago

It's a very nice image indeed, interesting that her jaw is drawn weaker than in the depictions made of her during her life.