Like walking for the first time

I can't believe how happy I am with shoes on! Its like the world is a better place. Highlighted how miserable I have been!
Elevated off the ground
I'm a woman, not a stupid kid who's walking around barefoot
Feel myself now
Back to normal
No one is looking at me, I can get on and get to where I need to go
Much more purpose in my step.
I don't have to look down to be careful of my tread
I was walking around just smiling at the fact that my feet were dry and cosy
Walked past my housemate. She noticed how happy I was. She stopped in her tracks and just stared at me with the biggest gasp and smile I have ever seen. I ran toward her and hugged her. She exclaimed "I'm so happy I could cry." We both had tears in our eyes.

I felt like going for massive walk. Just because I could and it be enjoyable. Feel like a whole world of options has been unleashed to me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdHbpg0MA8

Henna
This is it
This is the end now
Tickled
Re-energised me
Brought my feet to life

Shoes on!?

The activity of me putting shoes on. The fact that I had people watching me made it feel special and momentous.
"What shoes are you going to where!?"
"Those are good socks"
It was odd going through the process of pulling the socks up, typing the shoe laces. Felt like it took forever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBNbRtVQY-Y

Washing

To mark the end of this adventure I washed and scrubbed my feet. Properly! I invited a few friends to watch me so I had some witnesses. It was strange having them watch me do quite an intimate activity. I enjoyed scrubbing away at my feet, it was extremely therapeutic. It felt like I was washing away the history of what I had done.

Washing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLGp0WgoXKw

Wonderfully clean
Brand new
Fresh
Precious

This is the end.

I walked into the studios today and collapsed into tears. I said over and over again to different people "This is the end". Mixture of results from claps, "yay's", gasps and laughs.
I really do feel like I've had enough. Plus getting the henna done today and that really is quite an appropriate marker of the end.

Last barefoot walk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dewNAK6EmVU

Aesthetic object

Wednesday evening we went to Hatch in Nottingham, a series of performances by various artists. The photographer saw my feet and said to me "Is this something I should be photographing? Is it part of tonight's performances?"

Amelia from Radar filmed my feet and said she wanted to use it in the film she was making about Hatch.

Watching a performance outside, Alex: "You should stand on your gloves. Good idea"

Johanna: "I like that you're making them into an aesthetic object. Your feet are changing."
Me: "How? How do they look?
J: "They just look like they're adapting to the cold."

The time has come?

"You've got wide soles...you've got fleshy feet"

Past couple of days it has been raining and the ground wet, so feet haven't been that dirty by the time I've walked them home. Everyone expects them to be filthy.

I've been telling people that I'm stopping on thursday because thats when I'm getting the henna finished. As I've already expressed, instead of the henna symbolising bringing something positive to Loughborough, I feel that it is also bringing something positive to me and that it is the start of me getting filled up with energy again. This project has far more overwhelmed my emotions and physicality than I thought it would and I'm ready to get some life back into me! Ready for the next challenge perhaps. Plus I'm kind of tired of people asking me how my feet are. What about how I'm doing!? 

I think its getting a bit cold

Walking to the sports hall at 7:45 am was not fun

Wind 

Rain

Puddles

Broken Umbrella

Flippin freezing

Really quite wanted to put shoes on. 

You know when your hands throb from the cold. Its weather like that now. So I'm thinking its glove weather. Wish there was an equivalent garment for my feet. Oh wait. Its called socks and shoes. Hmm...

Pretty feet

My housemates hadn't seen my feet with henna yet. I've had socks on all day in the house, so when I took them off to go to fireworks Sophie said to me "You're not going out with barefeet are you?" and shook her head in shock. Sara exclaimed "They're gorgeous"
Standing on the grassy hill waiting for the fireworks they got very cold and I trod into the mud making an indent in the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8kdz0KnrHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fse_v6k3UgY

I got the henna done as a symbol for me to be treading beauty into the ground, on a spiritual level. And that I could perhaps ritually wash away the dirt I had picked up as a sign of washing Loughborough clean and stepping beauty into the ground where ever I walk. However, today I felt like the henna was something for me to enjoy. That I feel so burdened by walking barefoot now, the henna is like a recuperation, to top me up again with energy and life. Only the top of my feet were done because it took the henna artist too long. I have her booked to finish the soles on thursday. After that, I think I will stop. However my mood with this is so unpredictable I may feel differently about it again tomorrow! But certainly today I kind of kept myself in the house because I didn't want to take my socks off in order to go outside.
(p.s. the wearing of socks came from an acknowledgment that it is harder to have cold feet in your own home where you should feel comfortable than outside, so I have been allowing myself to wear socks when I get home)

Only thing about henna is, it looks like poo

My feet wore flip flops today so that they stayed clean for the henna that I was getting done later. Reactions to my shoe-wearing:

"You cheat"

"You're shit"

"Gay"

"I thought you were meant to be barefoot"

"Do you like it?"

I didn't enjoy it. It was strange having a constant texture to have beneath my feet, felt like a platform of protection, like it really was a boundary from the dirt on the ground. I suddenly felt of the world again, felt normal again, like there is nothing no longer different about me. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB5MWGVKqmU

Where've your shoes gone?

Woman in charity shop: "Where've your shoes gone?"

Me: "I don't wear shoes"

W: puzzled look on face

M: "I've been wearing no shoes for 2 weeks for a project I'm doing, I'm a fine art student"

W: "What are you doing?"

M: "I'm testing the physical limits of my body so I've taken my shoes away"

W: "I'm going to call the woman upstairs and tell her about it. She might understand what you're doing"

I sheepishly walk away telling her "No please don't do that I don't want to talk to her" in the most polite way I can. Lady appears from a staff door just as I leave the shop. I hear the woman at counter start to explain my barefootness as I am walking away.
So bizarre!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2mYRemgdsw

Socks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHmXDskohws

"Are you limping?"
"I couldn't do what you're doing because I just get angry when I'm cold"
"Are you still doing it?"
"They look swollen"

At home my feet are still cold (not got the heating on), and somehow that feels worse than when I'm outside. Maybe because when you're inside and especially when you're at home you should feel comfortable. Having cold feet in your own home is not comfortable, so for a second night, I am wearing socks to bed!

Rain

When its raining its like every step is a destruction to my feet.
I'm so sick of people looking at my feet then looking back up at me as if I'm crazy. I don't want to be looked at anymore. I want it to be invisible.

"Don't you have cold feet?...You're brave"
"That girl's got barefeet"

This is Nottingham

Don't feel like there's much new happening or anything different I'm learning: being barefoot now feels completely normal to me, its ingrained into my lifestyle, like I wanted it to, its just part of what I do. Its like I've unlearnt the act of putting on shoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6LfHCq5pIg


Put feet on a ground light, it heated my foot quite quickly, giving me a new sensation on my foot. This was quite exciting as I hadn't experienced much new texture or feeling in my steps for a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHjUoYNSEqQ


Walking back from train station just now: enjoyed the dim yellow colours of the light changing, and making our shadows move across our feet and in our path of walking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY6jSC7MRSI

Do I have to wear shoes?

Wore shoes today for a screenprinting workshop. I was really aware of the shape of the shoe around my foot - a sensation of touch on every side. Felt trapped and tied in. Made me realise the enjoyment I'm getting out of being barefoot and the freedom I feel. I no longer walk out the house thinking I should be putting shoes on or like I've forgotten to do something, it feels normal now.

Day 10. Everyone wants to see the soles of my feet!

You don't normally wish to see the bottoms of people's feet, I find it hilarious that people want to see mine, as if to check how dirty they are; to see the evidence of my barefoot walking.
"Can I see the bottom of them?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'm really quite interested"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYhl4JwpNFc

I think you're mental

Day 9. Glass still in foot? Definitely bruised - slightly tender in that area and am aware of it every step.
"Are your feet swollen?"
"I think you're mental"
"You're a fucking retard. Give it up already"
"I'm so proud of you. You must be freezing"

Crazy?

Yesterday I stepped in glass and kind of just left it other than socaking my feet in hot water. But this morning it still was painful to walk on. It felt like with every step I was treading it further into my skin. It actually bled again and I was getting worried about it possibly getting infected, since I have no barrier between the wound and the ground.

Went to the doctors, wanting advice and clues about how to take care of my feet or signs to look out for if it starts to get dangerous to my health. The doctor said he thought it was a crazy idea and suggested I wear socks and shoes please. He took one quick look at my injured foot, not even attempting to take the glass out, claiming he would need an x-ray to see if it was in there. He spoke about frostbite, hold and cold traumas and it leading to permanent damage to my feet. I left the doctors completely deflated, feeling like an idiot (again) and wondering whether I am infact being incredibly stupid. I crosssed paths with a fellow art student who expressed how much she liked my blogs and the project as a whole. Whenever I talk to an art student I get encouraged by their response, it is when I talk to someone who just doesn't undertsand that I question what I am doing and feel silly.

Day 6 A day in London

Man at Loughborough train station: "You must have cold feet"
Me: "Yes I do... I've been going without shoes for a week so I'm used to it"
Man: "Oh right. Why are you doing that?"
Me: "I'm a fine art student. I'm interested in performance art and I'm testing the physical limits of my body"
Man: "Oh right ok. Don't step in anything nasty!"


A lady in convent garden walked past me, she was on the phone. She retraced her steps to talk to me and held her phone conversation. She looked at me with genuine concern and said, "Please be careful...I'm being serious, there are drug addicts round here and they leave their needles on the ground. Please be careful"
After that I felt pretty stupid, felt like an idiot and suddenly more aware that I was barefoot. It made me feel dirty and more aware of the dirt on the ground, of what I might be treading on and what my feet are picking up. 


In the evening I had dinner with a friend and he was really encouraging about my project which helped me reconnect with the purpose of it. He understood the feeling of my skin being connected to the ground and it being about my lifestyle. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVrSf-YH5ks

Day 6 A day in London

Can't get more natural than barefeet!

Day 5: 22 October 2010

Had to put shoes on to do a workshop today. Felt really odd having something around my feet as protection, only I felt trapped inside the shoes. I could acknowledge the freedom that I had been feeling now that it was taken away from me, I felt separated from the ground.

Wearing shoes made me realise what I was experiencing by being barefoot and also the fact that I enjoyed it.

Walking with Lottie

Intentionally moving onto the grass for some soft steps

Waiting for the green man at night

In the union

Day 4: 21 October 2010

I was a lot happier today. When I stepped out of the house I though "Oh I can feel the ground" It was warmer and drier than yesterday so I could actually feel the texture and was able to acknowledge the different surfaces I treaded on, whereas yesterday my feet were just too numb and I couldn't appreciate what I was feeling.
Some funny things I heard today:
"Connie, why are you barefoot?" (Andy)
"You're like a ninja, I can hardly hear you" (Joe)
"Keep peddling baby" (stranger)
"That must be freezing" (stranger)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlmQmYcqa8

Did some printing with my left foot today - that is left over blue paint you can see

My feet look and feel like they are getting an almost leather-like layer.
It feels like I can never get them completely clean.

Day 3: 20 October 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8O829wXyNc

Day 2: 19 October 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhER2Gh0UR4

Hello! I'm in Lincoln

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuBLSCw-z6U

This was actually yesterday, a trip out to the theatre in Lincoln

Fed Up

Today I got really cold, my feet felt like blocks of ice. I was getting really fed up and grimacing any time I walked outside. Coming back from the train station, I had to leave my friend and start cycling because I could no longer keep my feet on the ground. Although the bike pedals are spiky, it is a release from the hard cold ground.
I'm starting to get fed up with the pain now and wondering why on earth am I doing it.
The novelty has worn off. Now its about endurance.

How are the feet Emma?

Walking in Lincoln 19/10/10

Day 1: 18 October

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb7-coiB3Kc

No Shoes Day 1 18/10/10

Felt very nervous this morning before I went out the house, aware that people were bound to look and wondering what they might be thinking.
Felt very alien to begin with, but as soon as I hit the ground outside I felt connected to the earth.
My friend in a gasp said "Oh my God you're walking so fast!"
I cut corners on paths, choosing instead to walk on the soft grass
Was worried about going into Tescos as I thought they would ask me to put shoes on for hygenic reasons. No one stopped me, I made it round Tescos barefoot and felt a huge sense of triumph as I walked out!

Getting ready

This past week I have casted my feet several different ways to record their condition. Whenever I end this "experiment" I will cast them again to see how the skin has changed.

Photos are from plaster casting 12/10/10
Also casts in:
Latex
Plaster cast from clay
Clay imprint
Plaster cast from alginate

Why?

I'm an Art Student and am concerning myself with body and performance art. By walking barefoot (indefinitely) I am exploring endurance and testing the physical limits of my body.

I will be walking barefoot everywhere expect for the places where it is unacceptable. To be prepared for instances like these I will always have a pair of shoes available.