Shoes for Nowhere

Shoes for Nowhere is part of Hospitium – The Lampedusa Project and was created in memory of Yusuf, a six-month-old boy who died during the crossing of the Mediterranean despite being rescued by the NGO Open Arms. Yusuf spent more time in his mother’s womb than on this earth. His grave is on Lampedusa.

The shoes are hand-stitched in elaborate Petit Point embroidery – a technique historically reserved for luxurious objects commissioned by the wealthy, including baby shoes in the Biedermeier period. The inside is lined with precious African damask, produced by the Austrian company Getzner, a fabric traditionally used for festive garments across West Africa.

These shoes will never walk. They lead nowhere.

They symbolize a futile gesture of care, created too late. A pair of shoes for a child who will never wear them – and at the same time a memorial to the many children who drowned on their way to Europe. They also reflect the artist’s own helplessness, her retreat into the act of embroidery when confronted with unbearable loss.

Through this work, Tanja Boukal questions the limits of art, the emptiness of luxury in the face of tragedy, and the quiet, fragile gestures with which we try to resist forgetting.