18th Century focus for new footwear exhibition
19/08/2020
The first of three exhibitions in the museum's 25th anniversary line-up, The Great Divide explores issues from gender and race to imperialism and colonisation.
The Age of Enlightenment was a period in European history from the end of the 17th to the end of the 18th century when Western philosophers and scientists wrestled with concepts of 'human nature' and 'natural rights'.
"Throughout the 18th century, Western fashion, including footwear, was central to the 'naturalization' of difference in Europe," said Elizabeth Semmelhack, creative director at the Bata Shoe Museum.
"Distinctions between men and women, children and adults, Europeans and 'Others' became increasingly codified through clothing. Yet, European fashion was also used to blur the lines between classes as social mobility and access to consumable goods grew as a result of imperialism."
Highlights include:
• Moccasins said to have belonged to Myaamia leader Mishikinawa, also known as Little Turtle, who resisted the incursion into Myaami territory by delivering one of the worst defeats in U.S. history at the Battle of Wabash in 1791.
• Late 18th century shoes that began as Indian jutti but were transformed into a pair of English women's shoes that embody British Imperialism in India.
• An early 18th century silver side-saddle stirrup made for a woman from a powerful colonial Spanish family in Peru. Roughly 85 percent of the world's silver was mined by conscripted Indigenous people and imported enslaved Africans in Spanish-held South America.
The Bata Shoe Museum showcases 4,500 years of footwear history with 14,000 shoes and related artefacts.
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