Untitled
A shoe. A lonely shoe. A painful shoe. A painful search. From the moment you wear it, you are called to begin a journey, a path with both a beginning and an end. This journey is filled with contradictions: a suspended state between the need for integration and the internal struggle with the distortion of identity that may arise along this path.
The artist explores the way in which people manage the feeling of uprooting - whether it is literal, as in the case of migration, or more internal, like the feeling of not belonging somewhere and searching for an identity. Migration, as a phenomenon, brings to the forefront the need to rebuild one's identity and reconsider belonging. Uprooting can be both emotional and psychological, inevitably connected to the search for belonging.
The loneliness of the shoe, the fact that there is no pair, highlights the feeling of "incompleteness". The shoe, on its own, refers to the absence, loss, or uncertainty. In contrast, wood as a material "breathes", giving life to the sense of transition and evolution. This contrast with the human body is crucial: the shoe is made to be worn, to embrace the foot that wears it, while wood, solid and natural, offers a sense of stability within the insecurity of the journey.
The journey that begins when the shoe is worn is one of searching for acceptance - from others, but also from oneself. However, this process is not without its cost. As it progresses, wounds, both physical and emotional, open up. These wounds coexist with the person, becoming part of their journey. Only through this interaction with wounds and contradictions can one reach their destination, recognize themselves, and integrate their experiences into a new whole.
