Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Shoes

Chiharu Shiota is a Japanese contemporary artist.  It is difficult to find much on her except she was born in Osaka and now lives in Berlin.  She attended schools in Japan, the United States, Germany, and Australia.  Her works are original and interesting, and perhaps, full of social commentary more than artistic spirit.  Below is an exhibit that was on display at the Freer/Sackler museum which I seem to be writing about endlessly these days.  It is an exhibit of 300 discarded and found(donated) shoes (not pairs) and donated notes about each shoe tied to a piece of red yarn that goes back to that point in the corner.  The artist has collected these over the years because they are reflective of the bits and pieces of our lives that we leave behind.  I could not read the notes while I was there since most were in Japanese. I later found this link that tells the story of many of these notes.



In this photo above I included the guard who was there, I am sure, to keep small children and evil adults from playing with the display.  (I wonder if some days his feet hurt?)  You can find some interesting information on the installation here.

Shoes are often symbols of our travels across this earth via our life.  I have not had enough courage to visit the Holocaust Museum, but they have a room full of shoes that once belonged to living human Jews with precious and important lives.

Shoes represent who we are and what we think of ourselves sometimes.  Symbols of our essence maybe?  Sometimes given more importance than they deserve.  I recently posted about shoes on this blog.

14 comments:

  1. A very unusual artist, for sure, and I think her interpretation says a lot. But I wear the same shoes no matter where I am. Hmmmm.

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  2. It's fascinating how an artist can make something remarkable from the most unpromising materials.

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  3. Thank You




    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    <3

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  4. Interesting. Yes, our shoes do tell about us. All of mine are comfortable and have inserts so they will be supportive, which probably means i choose comfort over fashion, which i do!

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  5. I had this on my list when we were visiting the DC art museums but never made it because it didn't seem to be located near the others and we ran out of time. I think shoes tell something about the soul of a person, like handwriting does.

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  6. I like this. It takes a bit of sideways thinking, but I like it.

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  7. I think it is interesting how some can see the art in the everyday objects--visual art or a story or any meaningful expression of our souls.

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  8. I love the vibrant color here, Tabor, and the display of shoes too - of course my own footwear is mostly just boots, hip waders and snowshoes!

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  9. interesting. I'm not a big fan of shoes and always go barefoot unless I leave the house and then it's sandals or if it's just too cold and then I wear soft soled moccasins. I have seen photos of the pile of shoes when I read The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich back in high school. theose pictures, not just of shows but of things like eyeglasses, gold teeth, etc. were sobering and horrifying.

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  10. Good art always makes you think n associate because of it.
    Wonder about the artifact lost of tsunami n earthquake are in the pile from Japan. I'd want the notes translated n a book to the side there.

    I keep my work n free time shoes separate- due to soil-age. At work I need a new pair to keep feet from blistering every month!! So much sugar, grease, n goo- At home have about 5 for various things I do- n dress up are packed away.

    The Holocaust movies alone get me into a funk, just so hard to dwell there-
    after reading so much about of it, n my friends growing up had lost folks n it does just boil your belly, heart, n empathy to think of what went on for those lives.
    There is still so much ethnic hate going on, don't know how we can think society has progressed to better now-

    France last week is proof of that- Tough to fix that stupid Elitist attitude!

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  11. The idea of this installation makes me smile - especially since the notes (which I think would be the most interesting part of the installation) were in a foreign language. I wonder if a lot of people sit on the benches contemplating the shoes?

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  12. I like the looks of the installation.

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  13. I like shoes, but they are just shoes...
    Now if it were done in cowboy boots, I would be fascinated.

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  14. Gee... I don't know. And I'm not positive how I feel about it, but I do like the photo with the guard and an empty room.

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