Mapping Fifi - Genoa, Italy

ARCHIVAL DIGITAL PRINT, 20X24, 2018

It haunts me to think about the ‘residue’ we leave behind on or in a place - whether by our detritus or our actions.

Fifi (Elizabeth Wilcox Leighton) was my great-grandmother following my maternal line. In 1900 she traveled to Europe between the months of March and August. Beginning in Italy and made her way through France, Monaco, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. Her album of this voyage was left to me in 2013; I have poured over its photos, examined their details, studied her handwriting - trying to find her story. I determined that to find her, I had to follow in her footsteps; I wanted to seek out the ‘residue’ she may have left behind; I wanted to hear the whispers of her voice that might still echo in these places.

She was there before both world wars, she was there at the same time that most of my ancestors were contemplating leaving. I retraced much of her physical path through Europe in order to create a body of work responding to her photographs and words. Our century plus shift in experiences are where nuances take form, how history and man have marked a place over time. I am bearing witness with this timeline and retracing hers. By following in Fifi’s footsteps I have embarked on a path that might mimic hers but will predictably produce different results, different images, and a new but shared tale.