"The Grand  Tour"  reflects Shanahan's ongoing interest in film, still studies and the drama of light in a narrative genre. This current body of work is based on a photographic album discovered in a Rome market in 1982. The album documents an Italian woman's journey through the Middle East in 1933.  Through the use of encaustic paint, Shanahan poetically interprets the black and white photographs into a magical trip.  The work evokes memory and romance and documents a specific moment in time. It leaves one wanting to know more about the journey, this dynamic woman in a historic context."