Boots

Ongoing Sequence, 2021–2025

Nikon FE, Nikon F100, Nikon D780, Motorola G6 and a Canon 5D

What are Boots For

In 1885 or 1886 Vincent Van Gogh painted A Pair of Shoes. To my eye, they are boots, and I’ll put them on and walk in them from here on in. I don’t think they’re being used by anyone. Just don’t tell Derrida.

Boots play no small part in language of the modern world. Computers boot up, we motivate by putting a boot up someone, and pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. Terry Pratchett’s tying of the boot to economic theory circulates as an alternative retail index. Boots are a form of fetish, boots are a form of class, boots are a form of fashion. Boots are on the ground, figuratively and literally, boots can stamp down on you and boots can be used to sidestep. Boots are a form of floating in the air. They are worn, to protect our feet from contact with the rough surface of the ground. They form a way of distancing ourselves from nature.

I’ve decided I will pull on Van Gogh’s boots every time I go walking in nature. I am not afraid of a dead man’s boots, and I hope to one day die with them on. The photography here focuses on my boots in the landscape. Angela Kelly and Jo Spence explore self portraiture from a feminist perspective, Kelly arguing that the personal is political. Cindy Sherman has used the self-portrait as a transformational tool. I’m just putting my foot in it.

• Edited extract from What are Boots Made For? Photo-Zine