lingua franca was selected for the 2021 Burnie Print Prize at the Burnie Regional Gallery, Tasmania by the judges, Dianne Fogwell, Dr Roderick Ewins & Tracey Cockburn

lingua franca was created as a response to the state of the world overwhelmed by the pandemic. As the disease took hold globally I obsessively consumed the news and corresponded with friends in Australia, New York and Washington D.C. about what was happening in their communities and countries and how they were coping. One told of colleagues who had died, all expressed fears for themselves and those around them, along with anxieties for the future.

Words and phrases from personal correspondence and news feeds have become a lingua franca, laden with emotion and shared experience. A common language across countries and cultures reconfigured as a lasercut concrete poem of colour, pattern and text. lingua franca has been framed placing silver mirror behind the words to evoke the long echo of our time.