Pacific Northwest Ballet goes through roughly 2,000 pairs of pointe shoes per year. New York City Ballet uses 500 pairs per month during Nutcracker season. Some pros exhaust multiple pairs of shoes in a single performance day. Stats like those raise a big question: After the shanks have collapsed and the boxes have turned to mush, where do all the dead pointe shoes go?

The tableaux in artist Karon Davis’ “Beauty Must Suffer” feel monumental—and acutely attuned to the complexities of life as a ballet dancer.