AN IMMERSIVE exhibition is encouraging people to walk a mile in the shoes of others.

Named after the famous proverb, the A Mile In My Shoes exhibit, run by the Empathy Museum, will appear in Brighton later this week.

It will be bringing its giant pop-up shoebox, which will house the unique cultural experience.

The outdoor space will be installed next door to the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Sussex.

Visitors will be able to go in and pick a story – from the likes of a refugee or a sex worker, a florist or a sheep farmer – and then take a pair of shoes from the stall and an audiobook.

The museum encourages guests to go for a walk while listening to the stories told on their guide, thus walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.

Admission is free and each story lasts for about ten minutes.

The Empathy Museum is the brainchild of artist Clare Patey and Roman Krznaric, who is described as a “cultural thinker”.

Clare said: “The whole museum is envisaged as an alternative high street, so instead of going for a consumer experience you’re going for a more human experience.

“If you talk to people about empathy, most people describe it as either seeing the world through someone else’s eyes or walking in their shoes.

“I wanted to take that metaphor and make it literal.”

Clare hopes the Mile In My Shoes exhibit will allow people to learn to empathise with others as it shares the stories of those who sometimes can be voiceless.

“It’s about a shared humanity,” says Clare.

“Whatever your experience is you can connect with people around those shared, common, emotions of love or joy or grief or loss.

“If you come across someone that you might not connect with in your day-to-day lives, you might begin to look at the world through someone else’s eyes.”

A Mile In My Shoes will be at the Attenborough Centre, Sussex University from Friday until September 23.

More information can be found at http://www.empathymuseum.com/.