Who is Francis Abbott?

Influenced by the work of writer Walter Benjamin and artist Francesc Abad, Who is Francis Abbott? by Rowan Markson explores contemporary fascism through competing historical narratives that surround sites of trauma and memorialisation.

The town of Portbou in Spain shares a border with France and is known as the site of Benjamin's death in 1940, after fleeing the Third Reich. Abad travelled to Portbou in the 1980s, following in the footsteps of his father who fled across the border in reverse during the Spanish Civil War (1933-36), thereby “encountering” Benjamin in the opposite direction. Portbou is a meeting point of overlapping and overdetermined journeys of exile and pilgrimage.

The pseudonym in the title comes from an unfortunate Spanish-English translation, which sparks new ideas and questions for Markson’s research-led project. Francis Abbott becomes an elusive character that simultaneously erases Abad and throws up possibilities for collaboration, subversion, and roleplay.