Stone Shoes - Trish Scott

Walking home the other evening I stumbled across an exhibition occurring in a derelict shop. The window sill of the shop had some printed black text that informed me that the installation was called Stone Shoes and was made by a women called Trish Scott. The piece consists of a video of some indeterminable "thing" stumbling strangely from out of shot into and through the shot and then back out of sight. As the figure comes into focus it becomes obvious that it is a person trying to walk in shoes made out of stones. What is most powerful about this sequence is the way in which this malleable creature causes its viewer to reflect. She uses this reflection to empower her unique approach to transforming the everyday from banal rituals of routine to something more...

As a constantly changing space I chose to return to her installation a couple nights after my initial encounter and make a brief recording of the nocturnal experience. Darkness seemed to excentuate the beauty of the piece and brought with it an eeriness that only further served to perpetuate the obstruction to the realm of the everyday. For those of you not lucky enough to get to see the piece the following footage will give a basic sense of it. Also, please note that the flickering on the television screen is a result of the recording (although I quite like the effect it adds).

In terms of influence for the piece, her website informs us that finding a large number of partially buried shoes in the land surrounding Cortijada Los Gázquez (Almeria, Spain) prompted her to test how shoes mediate the sensation and experience of walking. She also informs us that she used materials constitutive of different environments to make soles to walk through these same environments. This focus towards the very basic and primal act of walking synchronises with her unique approach to invading the everyday space and making it something more memorable, rather than each moment just dissolving into the next.

Attached is a link to her website for those who find this work of interest:

http://www.trishscott.org/