installation: if the shoe fits...buy it
In 2008, an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush during a news conference about the situation in Iraq, a situation that was tragically spiraling out of control. Until then I considered my love of shoes merely as a guilty pleasure. Further research enlightened me to the concept of kundara - the Persian and Arabic view of the shoe as the ultimate symbol
of pollution and disrespect.
My installation If The Shoe Fits…Buy It touches upon the tensions within the subtext of diverse shoe cultures. In most Western cultures, shoes can be about comfort and protection, but often are expressions of self-image, sex, and consumerism. They are a symbol of power and social status, whereas in Arabic and Persian cultures, the shoe can be used to express the highest form of degradation.
Handbuilt porcelain shoes, prayer rugs, shoemaker's form, video. If the Shoe Fits...Buy It was exhibited at the Fuller Craft Museum and was selected by an international panel for the 2014 Ceramic Bienale in Cluj, Romania.
My installation If The Shoe Fits…Buy It touches upon the tensions within the subtext of diverse shoe cultures. In most Western cultures, shoes can be about comfort and protection, but often are expressions of self-image, sex, and consumerism. They are a symbol of power and social status, whereas in Arabic and Persian cultures, the shoe can be used to express the highest form of degradation.
Handbuilt porcelain shoes, prayer rugs, shoemaker's form, video. If the Shoe Fits...Buy It was exhibited at the Fuller Craft Museum and was selected by an international panel for the 2014 Ceramic Bienale in Cluj, Romania.
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The video element of If the shoe fits...buy it can seen below:
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Images from the show transFORM in Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, Romania, October - November 2014. A scaled-down version of
If the shoe fits...buy it can be seen along the back wall with raised platform and video monitor.
If the shoe fits...buy it can be seen along the back wall with raised platform and video monitor.
