In 2015, a series of art installations began aiming to help increase empathy through storytelling and dialogue: the Empathy Museum. The offices are in London while the museum does not have a permanent location; the temporary installations travel internationally (via). One of the projects is "A Mile in My Shoes", a giant shoebox with shoes and audio stories inviting visitors to walk a mile in someone else's shoes and to "expore our shared humanity" (via).
From a Syrian refugee to a sex worker, a war veteran to a neurosurgeon, visitors are invited to walk a mile in the shoes of a stranger while listening to their story. The stories cover different aspects of life, from loss and grief to hope and love and take the visitor on an empathetic as well as a physical journey.
The other projects of the Empathy Museum are "A Thousand and One Books", "Human Library" and "From Where I'm Standing".
"empathy is the art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person, understanding their feelings and perspectives, and using that understanding to guide your actions"
Roman Krznaric, founder of Empathy Museum
"What all stereotyping has in common, whether it is a product of politics, religion, nationalism, or other forces, is an effort to dehumanize, to erase individuality, to prevent us from looking someone in the eye and learning their name. The consequence is to create a culture of indifference that empathy finds difficult to penetrate."
Roman Krznaric, founder of Empathy Museum
"Highly empathic people are engaged in a constant search for what they share with other people, even when those people appear alien to them."
Roman Krznaric, founder of Empathy Museum
"Empathy is a constant awareness of the fact that your concerns are not everyone’s concerns and that your needs are not everyone’s needs, and"
Roman Krznaric, founder of Empathy Museum
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photograph of Ringo and his boots (1971) via
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