Toronto/CMEDIA: Located at 327 Bloor Street West, Toronto ON M5S 1W7, the Bata Shoe Museum (BSM)’ exhibition ‘Rough and Ready’ explores the history of Cowboy Boots.
Since their invention in the late nineteenth century, cowboy boots symbolized labor and leisure, freedom and domination, tradition and reinvention have embodied contradiction.
Whether worn in the saddle, on screen, or in the streets, cowboy boots remain a cultural touchstone, embodying both tradition and transformation in a constantly changing world. Cowboy boots are products of industrialization refined through expert craftsmanship and celebrate individualism and forged cultural cohesion.
Overtime cowboy boots have emerged as emblems of freedom and wide-open spaces of both resistance and reclamation.
Curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, Rough & Ready also includes objects and artworks from the Bata Shoe Museum collection and 13 lenders: Adam Goeglein, Autry Museum of the American West, Barry Ace, Erik Semmelhack, Flora Knight, The Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Jamie Cuevas Nudie, Lee Miller, Lisa Sorrell, Lucchese Bootmaker, Orville Peck, Sarah Madeleine T. Guerin, and Tony Benattar.
All the images are credited to Asha Bajaj
