Walk a Mile

Katarzyna Balug is interested in the infinite ways an everyday routine can be carried out. Much of life occurs in routine practices, but the misunderstanding of their differences causes tribulation on local and global levels. "Walk a Mile" explores an object's lifecycle as part of an individual's routine. Shoes, once attractive items on a store shelf, become part of their owner's daily reality while losing physical worth. Over time, they gain a new kind of value as representatives of the wearer's history.

The project attempts to recreate a similar shift in value over time using narration. Viewers are invited to sit in a circle, each in front of a different pair of worn shoes. On every seat is a set of headphones, playing each pair's story told by their previous owner. The shoes begin to acquire new meaning as the tales they embody unfold, and as visitors touch, try them on and converse with one another. No longer a pair of dusty men's dress shoes, one pair now belongs to Cody, who danced in them after becoming a man. Another pair was used to help an almost-homeless designer cleverly advertise his skills on a busy street. Through engaging with the used footwear, the audience has the ability to perhaps literally try on a new perspective, while the installation's circular arrangement creates an opportunity for the audience to interact; for listening to inspire speaking.

Project participants were found through Craigslist, resulting in a wide cross-section of city dwellers who share vastly different accounts from their daily experience. This process of singling individuals out of abstract urban crowds familiarizes a few out of the millions around us, all of whom have left a fair amount of footsteps on the sidewalks we share.