In My Shoes  (2008)


 

 

 


In My Shoes (Detail 3)

 

 


  •  Map drawing, black ink on tracing paper, dimensions: 60cm x 42cm (irregular shape)

  •  1 pair of shoes (Converse style), size 4 UK, in canvas printed with map drawing

 


The map drawing in this piece is of the area in Dartmouth Park near Parliament Hill Fields in Northwest London that I now call ‘home’. 


It shows the road where I live and the surrounding areas, the park where I walk and play with my kids almost every day. Then, towards the north, the map merges with a different kind of urban landscape, that of my hometown Böblingen, in Southern Germany, where I grew up. 


The fields bordering on this town, where I used to play as a kid, blend seamlessly into Parliament Hill fields in Hampstead Heath.


These two territories thus become one and constitute the fabric of my sense of home and belonging. 


The piece also includes a pair of canvas trainers in my size, printed with the above map. These may be seen as an invitation for the viewer to ‘step into my shoes’, an absurdity and impossibility in itself.