Shoe Tales is a creative experiment. It encourages the sending of handmade post. It examines the many different ways one question can be answered. It explores the cult and curiosity of the Shoe: an object that’s been part of our lives for centuries.
Shoe Tales was inspired by the mail art movement, which took art into the postbox to encourage collaboration between artists. Blank postcards printed with brief instructions were left around a variety of public spaces to be found. Using postcards gives a sense of freedom – people aren’t daunted by their trivial size and use their instincts. Every shoe tale was unique!
The postcards received tell tales of borrowed, old, beautiful, ugly, well travelled, impractical, prized, oversized and never worn shoes, to name a few. Shoes left behind in childhood. Shoes with a memory or moment attached to them. Festival flip flops and faithful walking boots. What is your most memorable pair of shoes?
Every postcard submitted gives a glimpse into someone's life, someone else's shoes. This is a communal project that anyone can be involved in and enjoy. Shoetales celebrates storytelling as an expressive, inclusive art form. In this instance, the diverse range of postcards contributed create one big story about people and their shoes, conjured by many memories, imaginations and voices from all over the world.
Even if you don’t yet realise it, you too have a Shoe Tale to tell.
