Photographer Profiles

Boots on the Ground: Tracking a Pair of Bright Red Wellingtons with Her Camera

Barry Tanenbaum  |  Nov 11, 2014

 

Hopscotch Wellies Smith came across the pattern in a little schoolyard in Yorkshire, England. “We were just out for a nice little walk,” she says, “but my attitude was always, if I’ve got the Wellies and my camera, something will turn up.”
All Photos © Ali Smith

The concept is elegantly simple: place the object of choice in a location of choice; take photograph; repeat as needed. The artistry is in the stylish sensibility you bring to the project. It’s a self-assignment for the imaginative and the adventurous. A skewed sense of humor doesn’t hurt, either.

It’s also a concept with a history of appeal to photographers from enthusiasts to professionals, with examples ranging from Kevin Clarke and Horst Wackerbarth’s early 1980s portrait-of-America project, The Red Couch, to Basil Mavroleon’s spirited traveling chair; plus ongoing efforts like Diane Berkenfeld’s garden gnome and John Conn’s American flag fence.

Ali Smith’s take on the idea came about when her purchase of a pair of bright red Wellingtons turned out to be…well, call it a practical problem. “They kind of fell apart in two days, with the heels flapping everywhere,” Smith says. But she still loved them, and she knew about The Red Couch, and so she was inspired to make the Wellies her traveling companions and photographic subjects. The boots, after all, would not require what she calls the “complicated, grunt-work logistics” of transporting a velvet couch. Still…

Red Wellies Shop Organic “I just put them down where I was shopping and took my pictures. There was no reaction. In New York City you can roller skate through the supermarket in a tutu and people will just shrug.”

Watering Wellies “I took this in a little backyard in a super-sleepy village in Yorkshire. The Wellies were watering because that’s what I’d be doing.”

Red Wellies Consider an Opening Line “This was at a gallery show of really pretentious art, and the Wellies gave me a better purpose for being there. I just sort of imposed myself on the situation when I saw the red shoes. I don’t think the people had a clue what I was doing, but no one had a problem with it.”

Sheep Loving Wellies “This was in a Yorkshire area where there was nothing but sheep and cows. The sheep seemed docile and friendly, but I didn’t know for sure. I don’t know from sheep, I’m from New York. But the camera gives you license to be bold, so I walked up, put the boots down, walked away and watched to see what would happen. He came up, sniffed at them and looked at me.”

“I was always trying to figure out a way I could carry them that wasn’t so conspicuous,” Smith says, “but if you bend them, they crinkle, so basically I just carried them in my arms. It looked crazy, but I didn’t care.” Eventually she found a long-strap shoulder bag that she sometimes used.

For most of her photography what was required of the boots was only that they stand up straight. Newspaper stuffing worked okay, but tubes of foam worked better. Always the idea was to fit the boots into found scenes rather than dream up situations for them, though once you have them with you, some dreaming is bound to take place. “I did try to connect them to my life, as sort of a stand-in for me,” Smith says.

She dealt with people’s reactions, which she says were few, by telling the truth. “I’d say that I carry these beautiful red boots and take pictures of them everywhere, and that was it. I guess if I’d had to go further, I would have talked about the stand-in aspect. I like the confidence of the boots—they go out in the world; they’re kind of sweet and cute, but they’re also really strong and imposing. I like that idea.”

Taxi Wanting Wellies “I set this up right above Union Square in New York City. It’s a scenario I’m familiar with and one I dread: late at night, trying to get a cab. So the boots were my stand-in.”

Red Wellies Cross the Walk “I just laid them out on a walkway in Central Park. The area was packed, and people would see them and walk up and take pictures. I had to be patient to get something with nobody in it.”

Wellies Noir “This was taken close to my building. I liked the footlights that lit the ramp leading up to the entrance level.”

Inquisitive Wellies “I took this in the Barnes & Noble that used to be on Astor Place in New York. I didn’t ask for permission, just set it up and shot.”

Smith photographed the boots for a couple of years, then published My Red Wellies, a small art book of selected images. You can find out about that volume as well as her other books, including the award-winning Momma Love: How the Mother Half Lives, at her website, www.alismith.com.

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