A Mile in My Shoes

In this special version of A Mile in My Shoes, visitors can borrow a pair of shoes belonging to a refugee or migrant and take a walk while listening to a first-hand story of their life. This interactive exhibition allows you to embark on a physical and empathic journey, to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes – literally.

Storytellers include Ramla Ali, a Somali boxer who’s won numerous titles for England; Aloysius, who left Uganda after being tortured for his sexuality and now runs a community support group for LGBTQA+ refugees in the UK; Lord Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK as a child from Czechoslovakia and has become a politician and life-long advocate for fellow refugees; Vivian, who was arrested by UK immigration officers and imprisoned inside Yarl’s Wood detention centre for six months; Minoo, a political and women’s rights activist who left her native Iran when the state sought to arrest her.

With storytellers who are at various stages of their lives, and who have come to the UK from different places – from Iran to Kosovo to Ivory Coast – the eclectic collection of stories shines a light on our shared humanity.

This collection was made in collaboration with Choose Love and builds on Empathy Museum’s ever-growing archive of shoes and stories, collected for their A Mile in My Shoes project. The collection now holds over 450 stories, covering different aspects of life – from loss and grief to love and hope. Since launching in 2016, the project has travelled across the UK and to Belgium, Ireland, the USA, Brazil and Australia, welcoming people to walk a mile in a stranger’s shoes.

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Empathy Museum is a series of art projects dedicated to helping us look at the world through other people’s eyes and explores how empathy can not only transform our personal relationships, but also help tackle global challenges such as prejudice, conflict and inequality. Empathy Museum was founded by philosopher/writer Roman Krznaric and is led by artist Clare Patey. The project was created in response to declining levels of empathy worldwide and to the changing nature of the British High Street. Each of our projects is built around the form of a shop, re-imagined as a space for dialogue, human exchange and community building, rather than purely commercial transaction.

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This event has been organised for Refugee Week 2022 in partnership with New Routes and Norwich City of Sanctuary.