Ashley

Hello! I am in my third year in the studio arts program at the University of Guelph, and my main focus is painting. I grew up surrounded by art; my family was divided 50/50, half engineers, half artists, but I didn’t start taking my art seriously until the lockdown. My high school art teacher really encouraged this path for me, and I have stuck with it. Outside of art, I really enjoy swimming and hiking!

This project is based on the famous saying “put yourself in someone else’s shoes” meaning to see things from the point of view of others. In order to represent this, I laid out a piece of paper measured to 2 meters exactly and had various pairs of shoes walk across it equaling the distance of exactly 1 kilometer. As the shoes pass over the paper you begin to notice the wear and tear that grows each step. 

The act of “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” means to experience things from their perspective and to learn about them. The way we walk is something so personal to us that isn’t often represented. There are many aspects that make an individual, the way we hold ourselves, the way we write, the way we express ourselves. Walking is a small part of that, one that is often overlooked. Each person has a different one, some drag their feet, some walk on their tiptoes, some favour one leg to another. The different shoes brought different conditions aswell. Some were muddy, some had a heel, some were only meant to be worn indoors. Each variation creates different marks which are reflected through the different rips and crinkles in the paper.