Shoes and storytelling - 3. A ‘directory of concealed shoes’

This blogging malarky sometimes takes you to places you were not expecting to travel. That's what happened to me this afternoon, when googling for images of 'paper shoes', I came across the activity of concealing shoes in buildings.

'They (Shoes) were apparently concealed in buildings as good luck tokens or to ward off evil spirits, a practice done in secret an not talked about,  which makes research difficult. They are usually discovered when a house is being renovated or knocked down.' Source

An artist,  Joanne B Kaar, working in Northern Scotland based a project on objects of mystery in the local museum, one of the mystery items being a shoe found concealed in the walls of a building, the Melness Shoe. Read more about the projects she created as artist in residence here. Chcek out all the links and other stories of concealed shoes and mythology on the side bar of this link. 

As part of the project the artist created and concealed shoes with messages about the Melness shoe to create a dialogue about the mysterious activity of concealing shoes in buildings.

Joanne B Kaar

I loved watching this video from a shoe resources officer - (what a job title!)

What's buried in the walls of your house?