9. Death and shoes: dressing the dead, decomposition and material afterlives with Dr Pia Interlandi

OVERVIEW

Why do we dress the dead, and why do we so often insist on shoes for bodies that will never walk again? In this episode of The Social Lives of Shoes, Dr Alexandra Sherlock speaks with Dr Pia Interlandi, Associate Professor at Curtin University and founder of Garments for the Grave, whose practice interlaces fashion, funerals and forensics. Together they explore what dressing the dead, natural burial, and Pia's pioneering research into textile decomposition, from The Pig Project to alkaline hydrolysis experiments on Ugg boots, Adidas Superstars and Clarks school shoes, can teach us about material life cycles, circularity and the ends of shoes' lives.

Content note: This episode contains detailed discussion of death, dying and dressing the dead, and mentions cancer treatment and animal use in research. If this episode brings anything up for you, please visit https://findahelpline.com for grief and crisis support local to you.

CREDITS:

Guest: Dr Pia Interlandi

Presenters: Dr Alexandra Sherlock & Dr Emily Brayshaw

Produced and edited by: Dr Alexandra Sherlock

Published by the Footwear Research Network

CHAPTERS:

1. [01:07] Episode 9 Introduction and Content Note
2. [06:51] Meet Associate Professor Pia Interlandi
3. [09:37] Fashion and Death as Sisters
4. [14:27] Garments for the Grave — Dressing the Dead as Ritual
5. [18:12] The Denial of Death — Becker, Capitalism and Legacy
6. [26:40] "Why Are We Putting Him in Shoes?" — Dressing Nonno and Nonna
7. [35:06] Mummified Feet, Personhood and Planning a Good Death
8. [41:19] Pointe Shoes — Linda Nurk, Rachel and What We Take to the Grave
9. [46:51] The Pig Project — Decomposition, Data and Disgust
10. [1:01:26] What Happened to the Fibres — Protein, Plant and Plastic
11. [1:09:44] Alkaline Hydrolysis — An Alternative End for Bodies
12. [1:12:22] Dissolving Shoes — Uggs, Superstars and School Shoes
13. [1:17:52] Debrief — Transformation, Cinderella and a Pair of Crocs
14. [1:21:54] Debrief — Surrogate Bodies, Disgust and Pia's Ongoing Work
15. [1:28:11] Bonus Story — The Lynx Effect

Full transcript, images and links at www.footwearresearchnetwork.org/podcast/shoes-and-death-with-pia-interlandi 

www.footwearresearchnetwork.org