Photo taken in Roberts Creek, British Columbia. Used by permission of photographer.
Short fiction. Poetry. Nonfiction…
Bus Stop.
Red shoes.
Abandoned? Left for someone? Someone in particular?
Heels clicked and gone home?
As per the Nov. 1 newsletter: I’m curious as to the QUESTIONS this image evokes for you. Can you share those even before you begin to explore and write? What questions come to you—and what do you discard of them, and what do you pursue? Post ALL, if you dare, even the silliest or illogical. Let’s see if they spark for another. Or for you, later. Let’s make the questions part of the process.
*Note that to post/share work, just copy/paste into a comment box! For prose, maybe a max of 50 words :)
I can’t help wondering if the shoes were moved there for the purpose of the photo. Maybe just a bit too serendipitous. Does that invalidate the image, the possibility that it might be “forged”? I would say no.
Wouldn’t the experience of the image be the same either way? Or is the imagined “story” behind the image part of the aesthetic experience, the assumption that the shoes / bus stop juxtaposition was an accident and not deliberate.
For example, imagine a museum where you go from time to time just to experience a particular painting. Then one day you learn that the painting is a forgery, not by the famous artist it had long been attributed to. What does that do to your previous experiences? Or what about future viewings? Can you still experience it as you had before? If not, then I would suggest the experience was not entirely about the painting, but about its “story,” its presumed provenance.
Knowing that the shoes were placed for the purpose of a photo detracts from the experience of imagined story. If they were truly there as a part of someone's experience, that is more "real" than making up a story about shoes you know are props. Of course you can make up stories about props, but you know they are imagined stories, not possibilities. As to the painting as forgery - good question. If it evokes the same sensations as an original would have, does it matter? In your scenario, though, you have experienced the painting before knowing it was a forgery. In general provenance definitely enhances experience of an art object, family utensil, etc.
Who walked to that bus stop in high heels without a sidewalk? Is that why they took them off when they got there, because their feet were dying walking on uneven ground? How far did that person walk before arriving? Were they dropped off? Was it a comical or dramatic scenario to leave shoes there?
These questions make my brain fizz about! The question about it being comical vs. dramatic made me think, "maybe it could be BOTH comical and dramatic at the same time!" Plus I liked thinking of all the far off places the shoe-wearer could have walked from to reach the bus stop, and how the farther they've come from, the more comical and dramatic their abandoning-of-shoes might be. Thank you for this!
Nov 1, 2023·edited Nov 1, 2023Liked by Alison Acheson
And if gone off to have a pee, is there poison ivy? Looks like shoes are placed on wrong feet - why, when otherwise so neat? In a hurry to pee? Of course not wanting to splash on favourite red shoes.
Was it a regular person wearing the red shoes, or someone else, like an ogre or a giant killer butterfly or a magic real estate agent? How old is the person or creature?
Do the shoes have super glue on them?
How many days or years have they been sitting there for?
Is there something hidden inside of the soles of the shoe?
Are the shoes two walkie-talkies in disguise?
Does the owner of the shoes have a job?
Was anyone actually wearing them, or are they trying to frame someone? For instance, maybe someone is trying to kidnap the mayor/librarian of Roberts Creek, so they put her shoes by the bus stop to sidetrack the detectives while they take her somewhere else?
Are the shoes regular shoes, or are they made out of candy? What makes the shoes red? It is normal shoe red, or is it something more sinister/weird, like blood from some red poisonous squid, or from those little bugs that live on cacti?
Where did the owner of their shoes get their shoes? From eBay? From their cousin's car trunk? From a table that said "free stuff" on the side of the road? From a thrift shop? As a Valentine's day gift from their worst enemy?
Did the shoes just fall out of outer space from another planet or the International Space Station and land there?
Maybe it's a kid, who is pretending to be a grown-up so that the bus driver will let them on the bus, except the kid in disguise decides the shoes are too uncomfortable to wear the whole bus ride, so they leave them there?
OR, maybe the person/creature in the shoes did not actually leave at all; maybe they have the powers of a giant chameleon to camouflage, except for some reason they are always forgetting to camouflage their feet.
If they were going on the bus, where were they going?
Do they live in Roberts Creek, or were they going home? Were they going to do something evil?
Or, had the BC Transit system been taken over by some kind of Society of Snobby Shoe Clique people, and it is one of their official rules from their clique-y handbook to never ever wear red shoes, so the person was so eager to join the SSSC, that they decided to sacrifice their shoes in order to be let on the bus?
Or, maybe at the bus stop they stepped in a massive puddle of sticky watermelon chewing gum / tar and could not unstick their shoes before the bus had to leave? Or maybe they haven't left the bus at all, but slipped out of their red shoes to climb up the bus stop pole because it was easier to climb it without shoes on, because something was coming to get them, like some sort of grumpy awakened rattle snake that lives at the bottom of the bus stop pole?
Is this part of a series? Has some photography student made a "shoes of Roberts Creek in random places" art exhibit where they stole everyone's shoes in the town and put them around outside to photograph, which bugged everyone in the town when they realized their shoes were missing?
Or, maybe no one "left them" there at the bus stop by accident at all; maybe they were left by someone else, for someone they knew would be arriving to Roberts Creek in the future? Maybe the person on the bus was given a series of odd instructions, like, "when you reach the bus stop, there will be red shoes waiting for you. Don't put them on your feet. This is a test from the Empress of Hedges. Carry them until you find the Shoelace Funnel Web she lives in. She is watching you."
OR, maybe there's some person who is leaving Roberts Creek, and going somewhere were their really old mother made them wear the red shoes, and the bus person secretly hates those shoes for some reason, so the second the bus pulled away and there was nothing the mother could do about it, they took off their shoes while still inside the bus and threw them out of the window. And somehow they both landed upright?
What size are the shoes? How long have they been there?
How drunk do you have to be to forget your shoes before you get on the bus?
Where is the body?
How painful were the blisters that caused you to abandon your favourite pair of shoes?
I can’t help wondering if the shoes were moved there for the purpose of the photo. Maybe just a bit too serendipitous. Does that invalidate the image, the possibility that it might be “forged”? I would say no.
Frank Dent - why would you say no?
Wouldn’t the experience of the image be the same either way? Or is the imagined “story” behind the image part of the aesthetic experience, the assumption that the shoes / bus stop juxtaposition was an accident and not deliberate.
For example, imagine a museum where you go from time to time just to experience a particular painting. Then one day you learn that the painting is a forgery, not by the famous artist it had long been attributed to. What does that do to your previous experiences? Or what about future viewings? Can you still experience it as you had before? If not, then I would suggest the experience was not entirely about the painting, but about its “story,” its presumed provenance.
Knowing that the shoes were placed for the purpose of a photo detracts from the experience of imagined story. If they were truly there as a part of someone's experience, that is more "real" than making up a story about shoes you know are props. Of course you can make up stories about props, but you know they are imagined stories, not possibilities. As to the painting as forgery - good question. If it evokes the same sensations as an original would have, does it matter? In your scenario, though, you have experienced the painting before knowing it was a forgery. In general provenance definitely enhances experience of an art object, family utensil, etc.
thought #1 Oh finally someone’s wish came true……wonder if I put them on ,click the heels together-will I return to that happy place!?
thought#2 Hallowe’en Party, drank too much, danced too much-wobbling on aching feet, bus coming….discard shoes ….but what a good time!
thought #3 In every case, the same shoes were found at the place, where the missing person was last seen.
Who walked to that bus stop in high heels without a sidewalk? Is that why they took them off when they got there, because their feet were dying walking on uneven ground? How far did that person walk before arriving? Were they dropped off? Was it a comical or dramatic scenario to leave shoes there?
These questions make my brain fizz about! The question about it being comical vs. dramatic made me think, "maybe it could be BOTH comical and dramatic at the same time!" Plus I liked thinking of all the far off places the shoe-wearer could have walked from to reach the bus stop, and how the farther they've come from, the more comical and dramatic their abandoning-of-shoes might be. Thank you for this!
Right?? Great insight on comical and dramatic!
Thank YOU! We're having fun with this photo...
The idea of twinning comical/dramatic. A little tragedy in there, too...
Shoes neatly left. Gone off to have a pee?
And if gone off to have a pee, is there poison ivy? Looks like shoes are placed on wrong feet - why, when otherwise so neat? In a hurry to pee? Of course not wanting to splash on favourite red shoes.
I’m thinking about Moira Shearer dancing in the Red Shoes! 🩰
Was it a regular person wearing the red shoes, or someone else, like an ogre or a giant killer butterfly or a magic real estate agent? How old is the person or creature?
Do the shoes have super glue on them?
How many days or years have they been sitting there for?
Is there something hidden inside of the soles of the shoe?
Are the shoes two walkie-talkies in disguise?
Does the owner of the shoes have a job?
Was anyone actually wearing them, or are they trying to frame someone? For instance, maybe someone is trying to kidnap the mayor/librarian of Roberts Creek, so they put her shoes by the bus stop to sidetrack the detectives while they take her somewhere else?
Are the shoes regular shoes, or are they made out of candy? What makes the shoes red? It is normal shoe red, or is it something more sinister/weird, like blood from some red poisonous squid, or from those little bugs that live on cacti?
Where did the owner of their shoes get their shoes? From eBay? From their cousin's car trunk? From a table that said "free stuff" on the side of the road? From a thrift shop? As a Valentine's day gift from their worst enemy?
Did the shoes just fall out of outer space from another planet or the International Space Station and land there?
Maybe it's a kid, who is pretending to be a grown-up so that the bus driver will let them on the bus, except the kid in disguise decides the shoes are too uncomfortable to wear the whole bus ride, so they leave them there?
OR, maybe the person/creature in the shoes did not actually leave at all; maybe they have the powers of a giant chameleon to camouflage, except for some reason they are always forgetting to camouflage their feet.
If they were going on the bus, where were they going?
Do they live in Roberts Creek, or were they going home? Were they going to do something evil?
Or, had the BC Transit system been taken over by some kind of Society of Snobby Shoe Clique people, and it is one of their official rules from their clique-y handbook to never ever wear red shoes, so the person was so eager to join the SSSC, that they decided to sacrifice their shoes in order to be let on the bus?
Or, maybe at the bus stop they stepped in a massive puddle of sticky watermelon chewing gum / tar and could not unstick their shoes before the bus had to leave? Or maybe they haven't left the bus at all, but slipped out of their red shoes to climb up the bus stop pole because it was easier to climb it without shoes on, because something was coming to get them, like some sort of grumpy awakened rattle snake that lives at the bottom of the bus stop pole?
Is this part of a series? Has some photography student made a "shoes of Roberts Creek in random places" art exhibit where they stole everyone's shoes in the town and put them around outside to photograph, which bugged everyone in the town when they realized their shoes were missing?
Or, maybe no one "left them" there at the bus stop by accident at all; maybe they were left by someone else, for someone they knew would be arriving to Roberts Creek in the future? Maybe the person on the bus was given a series of odd instructions, like, "when you reach the bus stop, there will be red shoes waiting for you. Don't put them on your feet. This is a test from the Empress of Hedges. Carry them until you find the Shoelace Funnel Web she lives in. She is watching you."
Ha!!! Love all these. My brain is buzzing on them!
Oh, an Empress of Hedges!
OR, maybe there's some person who is leaving Roberts Creek, and going somewhere were their really old mother made them wear the red shoes, and the bus person secretly hates those shoes for some reason, so the second the bus pulled away and there was nothing the mother could do about it, they took off their shoes while still inside the bus and threw them out of the window. And somehow they both landed upright?
Kathryn, imagination run rampant!
And now they are ready….waiting for the next person to come claim them……and step into their own story!
Thoughts (before writing):
-Who wears red shoes? Dorothy, yes, and also the Pope, traditionally.
-What a juxtaposition. Yet, in a way, both are travelers journeying home.
Art:
Dorothy and the Pope
.
Click your heels thrice,
Wave goodbye to your friends,
You’ve always had it within you.
.
You said yes to the call,
The election, white smoke.
A new journey’s about to begin.
.
Can you hear it? The whisper?
There’s fear: yes, of course.
You’ve never gone this way before.
.
But deeper, conviction:
You’ll travel this road.
Your Guide will not leave you alone.
.
You’ll climb on that bus,
Leave your now in the past,
Not look back at the way things had been.
.
For you know the way,
Know it deep in your soul.
Gates will open to let you go in.
.
You’ll end as you began
With the people you love
And you’ll never leave them again:
.
Whether Heaven, or Kansas: there’s no place the same
As the place that we know as our Home.
Thoughts (after writing):
-These are both, at their essence, rather “simple” characters/characterizations.
-is my goal also “home?” Or is it something else? Where is my “home,” or what is my goal? Do I have multiple goals, or, like Dorothy, one?
-What would we be like if we always shared Dorothy’s purity of intention and dedication regarding her goal?
-Perhaps we all have a little touch of Dorothy within us...
I’d be curious to read others’ art as well as their thoughts! Please share!
I did not know about the Pope! What an Odd Couple.
There's nothing quite like juxtaposition for rich material to hang out with. Heaven or Kansas.
Interesting observation about Dorothy's single-minded focus.
Love the line, "The election, white smoke"!
And the questions... yes!