Pressure

2017

4‑part series

Leather, wood

Pressure is a series of four sculptural heeled shoes produced through acts of controlled compression. Each shoe is subjected to a fifteen‑ton hydraulic press, crushing the heel under sustained force. While the conditions of pressure remain constant, each form deforms differently, producing distinct residues of collapse, endurance, and resistance.

The act of crushing operates as both performance and measure. Recorded on film, the moment of compression marks a point of irreversible change; the remaining objects hold that force within their structure. No repair or correction is attempted. Instead, the work preserves the aftermath, allowing pressure to accumulate materially rather than be released.

Positioned as a subversive form of craft, Pressure challenges ideals of care, beauty, and perfection traditionally associated with handmade footwear. Skilled making is followed by deliberate negation — attention is first given, then withdrawn. The repeated destruction of the heel references histories of feminised labour marked by repetition, productivity, and bodily cost, where endurance is demanded but recovery denied.

In this way, Pressure frames the shoe as a site of body politics. Force becomes unevenly distributed across time, labour, and gendered expectation, transforming footwear from a symbol of elevation into a record of sustained strain.