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Shoes have been in the news a lot recently - or rather the use of shoes as a form of projectile. Many have some sympathy with the brave but possibly foolhardy Muntadhar al-Zaidi who dispensed with protocol and his shoes at a Press Conference involving a certain (and surprising agile, for shame!) leader of the Western World. Some wounds will take a long time to 'heel'.
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However, while in the Middle East the tossing of a shoe is an insult of the highest magnitude, in the West the flinging of footwear is an altogether more casual pastime - at least in terms of its how and where and why it happens. So, is there a sole intention in the west or is this whole article an excuse for the author to make appalling plays on words about shoes?
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Observed in many countries, shoe tossing is the act of getting a pair of shoes, laces tied, to dangle gracefully (or otherwise, aesthetics are not considered uppermost) on power lines, telephone line - in fact, any extended line which goes from one point to another.
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Also known as shoefiti (get it?) this practice has made its way in to youth folklore, particularly in the US and Canada. This phenomenon has also been spotted in places far away, from Sweden to Israel and even down as far as South Africa. It is thought that the occurrence of the activity (dare it be named a sport and put up for the 2012 Olympics?) in these far flung places has spread because of their appearance in Hollywood movies such as Maid in Manhattan and Big Fish. Who can say?
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Then there is the art of the shoe tree - the above, an exemplary example from California - but more about them later!
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Meanwhile we can ponder - to infinity and possibly beyond - the shoefiti Hollywood connections there is an even greater question that demands an answer. Is shoefiti an art, a sport or a combination of the two? Could we possibly mix and mingle the two words and come up with a new one - could shoefiti and their cousin shoe trees possibly be classified as a 'spart'?
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Wikipedia defines art as "the process or product of deliberately and creatively arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions." It could be argued that the proponents of shoefiti do exactly that. Possibly. Where the argument might fall down is the Wikipedia definition of sport, which insists that it is an "activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
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Could the fact that the laces are always tied and the shoes flung in the style of bolas be construed as a set of rules? Over to you, ladies and gentlemen of the Olympic Committee. We won't hold our breath! Certainly in New Zealand and parts of Eastern Europe shoe throwing is already a sport which has its own world championships. It took a while for synchronized swimming to be taken seriously so perhaps the ‘spart' of shoefiti should not be dismissed out of hand!
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While the reasons behind shoe trees are elusive, some people hold that shoefiti is created to indicate that someone has recently passed away. Their shoes are suspended from up on high so they may collect them on their way heavenward. Optimistic about the final destination of these souls, mourning relatives fling the shoes up and away.
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A more sinister explanation is that a piece of shoefiti indicates the near locality of a crack den or is an In Memoriam for a fallen gang member. That this practice takes place in a lot of rural areas where there is something of a shortfall of gangs and crack houses leads many to suspect that there is more than a little of urban mythology going on here! Plus, would there really be a crack den near to the St Vincent de Paul Society? Hush!
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To complicate things further there is a further branch of the marriage of sport and art in connection with footwear. That is the burgeoning happenstance of the shoe tree. Although they cannot be construed in any way as a farewell kiss to a certain President Bush from the American people there are over one hundred examples of this strange art form in the United States alone.
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You may think you know all that needs to be known about shoe trees, in fact man of you may have one at home. However, the new shoe tree is not that neat device that you use to preserve your shoes domestically. It is a form of spontaneous art that springs up usually around busy roads. Who starts the shoe tree's evolution is anyone's guess but there is certainly little evidence of intelligent design in the form!
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Perhaps a drunken youth or passing vagrant was the originator of the tree. We may never know. What is not in doubt, however, is that once a tree receives its christening shoes (as it were) then people from far and near develop a compulsion to discard their own shoes (one must assume unwanted and old) with a shoulder fling and a grunt and add to the work in development themselves.
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The idea has even been taken by real artists to make real art.
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Without a doubt, as a form of public art (formal or informal!), shoe trees have one advantage. It would take special equipment to get the shoes down from their new found lofty heights and this leads to an inclination on the part of local authorities to leave the thing alone until it has taken on a life of its own and has become a local landmark.
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Whether it is locally appreciated, again, must be left to those who live there. Of course, if you can't take the shoes to the tree, why not take the trees to the shoes?
