Tyler Shields’ High Heel Plate (2025, Archival Pigment Print) is a provocative fusion of fashion, fetish, and fine dining, rendered with the artist’s characteristic blend of glamour and subversion. The composition places a stiletto-clad foot, dressed in sheer black stockings, at the center of an ornate dinner plate, surrounded by meticulously arranged silverware on pristine white linen. A pair of hands grip a fork and knife, poised as if to consume the shoe as the evening’s delicacy.

The piece transforms the high heel—long a symbol of power, sexuality, and style—into both object and entrée, blurring the boundaries between luxury and appetite, desire and consumption. Shields amplifies the absurdity of excess and the commodification of beauty, reframing fashion as something not just worn, but devoured.

Visually crisp and theatrical, High Heel Plate exemplifies Shields’ flair for turning familiar objects into unsettling metaphors. By reimagining the dinner table as a stage for indulgence, the photograph invites viewers to confront the extremes of desire and decadence, where glamour is not only admired but consumed.

Chromogenic print
15 x 20 inches