The shoe is stitched together with multiple pieces of latex rubber cast out of molds made from my own skin. The shoe’s toe and heel raise and lower as it occasionally vibrates/pulsates, and twitches on the floor as if it were still alive. The movement is not constant, and usually causes people to jump back while they are in the middle of leaning in for a closer look.

In our modern world of fast and easy consumption, we rarely pay any thought to where products actually come from and how they were produced. Many times we assume mass produced items were simply built by a series of machines. Unfortunately the reality is that we usually exploit other humans to produce goods as cheaply as possible. We place our well-being over that of others, sometimes for trivial objects.

As this piece deals with issues of sweatshop labor and content ownership, each piece of “skin” (cast in latex from my own) is different in color, size, and texture. The Nike Logo is done in white and placed prominently on top. The shoe’s toe and heel raise and lower as it occasionally vibrates/pulsates, and twitches on the floor as if it were still alive.

While the shoe is disturbing, the reality behind the issue is even more so.  We live in a culture that is disconnected from what it is doing to itself and others. We choose to ignore it, rather than deal with the reality we have created for ourselves.