The Circus of Life (Italian: Il Circo della Vita) is KHREAM’s most intimate and expansive body of work to date: a collection of forty-four original sculptures and paintings that together form a living autobiography. Each piece is a chapter, a memory, and a surviving witness—narrations drawn directly from KHREAM’s life story. These works speak openly of survival, of overcoming profound childhood disabilities, and of navigating the terrors and trials of young adulthood. They do not shy away from pain; instead, they transform it into form, color, gesture, and presence.
Within The Circus of Life, KHREAM speaks as both narrator and miracle-bearer. She openly names herself as a receiver of miracles—moments of inexplicable grace, intervention, and survival that altered the course of her life. These miracles are not presented as distant abstractions, but as lived experiences embedded within the figures themselves. Each sculpture and painting carries the residue of endurance, faith, and the will to remain alive.
The visual language of The Circus of Life is deeply rooted in Italian classical iconography. From an early age, KHREAM was captivated by the statues that filled Catholic churches—figures she encountered daily while being raised Roman Catholic and attending Catholic school, where Mass was part of everyday life. As a child, she would sit and study the statues with devotion, sensing a powerful aliveness within them.
These figures were not silent to her; they radiated presence, emotion, and companionship. That early, formative intimacy with sacred sculpture became the foundation of her artistic worldview.
In this collection, KHREAM reclaims and reimagines Italian iconographic sculpture. Classical forms are repainted, re-sculpted with clay, and transformed into performers dressed in circus-tent clothing, adorned with Venetian masks, and prepared for the eternal carnival of life. Drawing from Venetian carnival traditions and sacred statuary alike, these figures stand at the crossroads of devotion and spectacle, reverence and play.
The circus, for KHREAM, is not entertainment alone—it is a metaphor for human existence. The Circus of Life reflects the reality that we are all performers, constantly moving beneath the gaze and judgment of others. Whether judged for skin color, belief systems, gender, or identity, every human being is asked to perform under scrutiny. The masked figures in KHREAM’s work embody this truth, revealing how survival often requires both concealment and courage.
At its core, The Circus of Life is about what truly matters: survival, self-love, dignity, and persistence. It is also a generational reflection, infused with the spirit and sound of Generation X. During live performances, KHREAM sings Gen X songs and original skits on stage, weaving music and storytelling through the visual landscape of her sculptures and paintings. As she performs, she interacts directly with the artworks, collapsing the boundary between creator, creation, and audience.
This collection is not static. It is activated through performance, voice, movement, and narrative. On stage, The Circus of Life / Il Citco della Vita becomes a living environment—an inhabited world where art listens, responds, and remembers alongside its creator. KHREAM’s Circus of Life will be exhibited internationally, with planned gallery presentations in Florence, London, Paris, Lisbon, and Mallorca over the next several years. Exhibition schedules are actively evolving, reflecting the living nature of the work itself. Each exhibition and performance invites audiences to enter the circus—not as spectators alone, but as fellow performers in the shared, fragile, miraculous act of being alive.
