Unwearable Art: Topless Ouch!
Medium: New Zealand jade
Dimensions: 180 mm x 90 mm x 170 mm.
Year: 2012
Recently exhibited at Unwearable Art, Lightspace Gallery, Academy offine Arts, Wellington.
I have a love/hate relationship with high heels. They give height to the wearer, lengthen the leg and accentuate buttocks. They are sexually charged and expected attire for the well dressed. Unfortunately high heels are uncomfortable, often painful to wear and difficult to walk in. The extremely high heels in fashion at present shorten and damage the Achilles tendon and can cramp feet leading to later health issues.
Stone is an unyielding material for a shoe. This shoe is missing a top to hold the foot in place, thus the title Topless. A single shoe that allows the foot to 'walk out' of it renders it 'unwearable'. The word topless has a sexual connotation of being partially naked, as the wearer's foot would be with this shoe.
The ornate curvilinear form of the heel refers both to the Maori koru and the decorative spirals of European carving. The choice of New Zealand pounamu is a further nod to New Zealand culture.
On the inside of the shoe a logo Ouch! has been sandblasted indicating a likely response to the result of wearing the shoe. The Ouch! logo is repeated on the other shoes in this mini series; 6 Inch Black Ouch! and Carrara Flats Ouch! These sculptures explore the idea that often women wear uncomfortable items of clothing and shoes to the socially acceptable and sexually attractive. High heels in particular elongate the legs and buttocks in an alluring way but put pressure on feet and shorten the achilles tendon. Fashion heels seem to be getting higher to the point where the wearer is teetering on her toes.