It's a familiar sight - a single shoe abandoned at the side of the road. But is it art?

The best most passers-by can do is pick it up and place it in a prominent position in the hope its owner might return.

But artist Jill Gilmore went further, collecting abandoned footwear from all over the world and turning it into a unique art exhibition.

Jill, 36, who is studying for an MA in fine art at Brighton University, said: "It all started when I found a shoe in my front hedge. I thought it was quite strange.

"Shoes are so personal. I remember even as a child how exciting it was to get a new pair. To see one lying there deserted at the side of the street just seemed so sad."

Jill started collecting lost shoes, even enlisting the help of friends to pick up the shoes they found.

She said: "I have brought shoes back from Israel, New York and the South of France. I would just stop and pick them up wherever I found them.

"I was always afraid I would get some strange looks if was stopped coming through customs."

Jill stopped collecting when she had 64. She said: "I decided 64 was a good number because 1964 was the year I was born. I called my exhibition The 64 Soles.

"I suspended the shoes from the ceiling so it looked as it they were floating. I thought it looked as though they were perhaps on their way to heaven."

At her exhibition, at the Sallis Benney gallery in Brighton, visitors were invited to look at each shoe and make up their own minds about its history and how it came to be lost.

Jill said: "There is obviously a story behind each shoe, and this is what interests me. It is a history we can only ever imagine."