SEARCHING FOR FRAN: European Tour part I

European Tour examines the shifting value of photography as archive.  Through an exploration of an anonymous slide collection containing over seven hundred images depicting a group of American tourists and their travels through Europe via a tour bus in the 1970s, I seek to unearth their valued moments.  By highlighting and manipulating certain aspects of the archive, I am constructing an experience that questions the veracity of photography, the role of the image as it serves memory and nostalgia, and the collection as archive which is both cherished and abandoned. Searching for Fran follows the same woman as identified by her handbag: in front of monuments, on the street, posing with friends, as she collaborates with the photographer in the making of memories.