IN PURSUIT OF LOST VISIONS

Excerpt from Drylongso: A Self-portrait of Black America by John Langston Gwaltney.

An archival record, or oral history. Archived in the ‘60s across black America.

Born in rural Arkansas, Miss Carolyn Chase is in her early thirties.

When my aunt's husband died I came here, but I don't think I am going to continue to live here. I'd really like to live in some tranquil place where I could hear birds and running water and eat good wholesome food. I'm a diabetic, so you know what my greatest weakness is—I worship the joys of the bakery! If I ever needed a reminder that I'm no better than the rest, I get one every time I try to walk quickly past a good baker's window! I am five foot seven and weigh Mo pounds. so you know I don't win the good fight often enough.

I hope I have been able to help you some with my wandering reflections. I wish you every success in your project. But if I can offer some entirely unprofessional advice, please describe us as we are. We will still emerge as good as any other people. It's like making a cake, 1 guess. Some things cannot be enjoyed by themselves, but taken all together they make a good thing which is just as good as any other good thing. Only a fool would try to prove that black-walnut cake was better than Baltimore cake.

I've tried to tell you the whole truth and I've told you things I've never told anyone before. You may find it hard to believe. but t am not normally very talkative person. I know I'm not always the easiest person to get along with. After all, a thirty-two.year-old black virgin with a crush on a dead hem can, like everyone else, be a pain where she sits down. I started not to talk to you at all. And quite frankly. if you had not been blind, I don't think I would have.

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How can the archive caretaker move without an agenda? See what’s to be seen, not what they want to see.

See us as we are.

One space of agenda-less curation and exhibition, where sights can still be see as they’re found, is the library of eBay.