Lingua Franca: Home

Lingua Franca documents the Paris apartment where I returned for many years, and is an intimate reflection on travel, language, and culture. The texts come from a copy of an English-French phrasebook from 1835 found in a used bookstore in Rochester, NY. A narrative about traveling seemed to emerge from these phrases, one that expressed the doubts and fears of solo travelers, the polite forms of social interaction, and the fatigue of sightseeing and adjusting oneself to a new environment. This purported travel book does not show the sights, the people, or the environment. It’s instead a view looking inward, a reflection of the emotional experience of being in this place, and the process of constructing memory. Edition of 17.