A Mile in My Shoes | Empathy Museum
A Mile in My Shoes | Empathy Museum
Former MTT factory, Maribor/Melje, Slovenia
18-26 September 2020
opening: Friday, 18 September 2020, 18:30
What is it like to walk in someone else’s shoes?
“Let the cobbler stick to his last.”
— France Prešeren
A Mile in My Shoes is a shoe shop where visitors are invited to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes – literally. This roaming exhibit holds a diverse collection of shoes and audio stories that explore our shared humanity. From a Syrian refugee to a sex worker, a war veteran to a neurosurgeon, visitors are invited to walk a mile in the shoes of a stranger while listening to their story. The stories cover different aspects of life, from loss and grief to hope and love and take the visitor on an empathetic as well as a physical journey.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
— Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
In Maribor, A Mile in My Shoes will open during Prelaunch Days of EKO 8 Triennial. Thus, the selection of stories will lean towards environmental topics, such as the story of an Australian wildfire firefighter.
“If I could be you, if you could be me / For just one hour, if we could find a way / To get inside each other's mind / Walk a mile in my shoes / Just walk a mile in my shoes”
— Joe South
A Mile in My Shoes is a project conceived by artist Clare Patey for the Empathy Museum and is produced by Artsadmin. The stop in Maribor is the first of the artistic threads connecting partners in the Art & Well-being project, with support from the Creative European Programme of the European Union.
Video: How can we improve our own empathy? – Empathy Museum's 'A Mile in My Shoes', Youtube
