A young aerialist hangs from a rope high above the ring, gripping it with both hands and one bent leg, her body twisting as she looks down. She wears red-and-white striped tights and a dark top, and the ropes cut diagonal lines across the whole picture.

The background is a wash of pink, violet and lilac, with the words FOOLHARDY CIRCUS painted large and reversed across the lower half, as if the canvas were worked from a mirrored photograph. Shulman gives the figure a real sense of strain and balance against all that soft colour.

Princess of the circus is a large oil on canvas, 95 by 135 centimetres, from 2017.