A Pair of Sneakers

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Nestled between wedge heels, cosy slippers and patent brogues on your shoe rack, there are most likely a pair of sneakers – Converse with unravelling laces, scuffed Reebok running trainers or stylish Adidas Gazelles. Discovering a pair of discarded Nikes at the back of her closet – an impulse buy off the high street – Anja Aronowsky Cronberg details how the everyday sportswear became a treasured travel companion, carrying her from Paris to London, eventually bringing her to one of the most intimate moments of her life. From a conversation with a friend – a self-confessed sneaker devotee who covets a pair of Air Jordan 1’s – to the documentary Just For Kicks, directed by Thibaut de Longeville, a film that features such ‘sneakerheads’ as Grandmaster Caz, Reverend Run and Missy Elliott, Anja meditates the meaning of style and attachment, finding, just below her feet, conduits for tenderness.

Great thanks to Lisa Leone and Thibaut de Longeville. Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team.

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