And now for something a little different. The practice of throwing shoes (or boots) in the air to wrap around a utility line (power, phone, cable, etc) has been described as everything from “angels feet” marking the death of a gang member to ‘just another prank by drunken students’. There are web-sites dedicated to discussing it, celebrating it, recording it. One person decided that since the shoes tend to hand around for a while, it is a form of graffiti and coined the term ‘shoefiti’.
I offer no opinion as to the origin or symbolism, but living in an urban area, I frequently see them. And being a photographer, I take pictures. Since I’m not prepared to climb on top of vehicles, or on to a roof top, only a few images really show any detail. But every now and then I do find a ‘ShoeFiti’ image I feel might be of interest. I have started putting my favourites on greeting cards and apparel at one of my CafePress shops. If you find them interesting, or know of someone that does, you can watch our growing collection – a few are shown below, with more in the shop.
With my consolidation of Authorized Production Partners moving forward, these images are no longer available at CafePress.
As of 2021, a few of my Shoefiti designs are available at my Threadless shop.
