Traveling Shoes

Justin Thompson

In collaboration with Stefanie Nelson, Bradly Dever Treadaway and Jason Thompson with the participation of Frog and Toad’s Dixie Quartet

Traveling shoes is a performative sound work employing a mobile two-chair shoeshine stand with a built in sound system, dancers, a marching band, and shoe shiners engaged in gold leafing the public’s shoes as a metaphor for ascension. Drawing its title from an African American traditional folk song that speaks of the necessity for ‘traveling shoes’ when death comes to call, the performance investigates a shifted labor hierarchy, where the shoe shiner becomes provider of the means for redemption.