A three-legged man playing soccer is on display at Kresge Art Museum as a part of a nontraditional exhibit of circus sideshow banners.

The collection of 12 canvas banners depicts exotic attractions ranging from a man riding a bicycle upside down through the air, to an underweight man playing tennis.

There was some concern with how the exhibit would be received, said Cari Wolfe, assistant education curator.

"Initially, there was some apprehension to being sensitive to certain issues - the armless and legless boy, the woman who is very large, that sort of thing," Wolfe said. "But it's a really good teaching tool in how culture was in the early 1920s and '30s as opposed to what we are today."

Then, it was common for people with physical abnormalities to be exploited at the circus.

"They couldn't have gotten a normal job, so the circus was actually a haven for them to go to," Wolfe said. "They were a family, they were accepted and they made good money doing it."

During the turn of the century, there was an enormous draw to these attractions because before TV, radio and the Internet, the strange and weird were not easily accessible for most people, Wolfe said.

"To hear things about what's happening in the world - that almost seems like a different planet," she said. "So if you say, 'We're going to have this witch doctor from this African tribe,' people would come out in droves because it's something very exotic."

While people may not be flocking in droves to see the exhibit, those who do come to the Kresge Art Museum are pleasantly surprised, Wolfe said.

"We have people come in who are a little bit shocked by that and shocked by this," she said. "For most people, it's been positive."

Robin Murphy, a DeWitt resident, said she was expecting to see framed artwork at the exhibit.

"I was kind of surprised with the tapestries … but this is really nice," Murphy said.

She was intrigued by the story behind the three-legged man, who was pictured kicking a soccer ball with a leg coming out of his hip.

Circuses and their sideshow attractions were an escape from reality, said Gary Hoppenstand, an MSU professor of American thought and language.

Hoppenstand compared the attraction with the weird, exotic and bizarre of the sideshows to the modern-day horror flick.

"The mayhem and all the blood and the formula - there's kind of a cathartic thrill watching that," he said. "Kind of like riding a roller coaster."

Sideshows have diminished in popularity because of to modern technology and shifting entertainment interests, Hoppenstand said.

"Today, circuses have to compete with special effects films or TV," he said. "There's nothing they can do in the big top today that compares to that."

The banners have opened a window for visitors to see how body image has evolved over the past century, Wolfe said. Hollywood has set a high standard in today's society for body image, she added.

"It's not attainable to most people and, unfortunately, what we find physically beautiful today is very plastic," Wolfe said. "(Body image) has shifted. I don't know if it's definitely better or worse, but it has changed."