This past fall, I put a call out to the community to submit creative writing entries to accompany unidentified portraits in The Thomas Bouckley Collection. With ten portraits to choose from, submissions included diary entries, letters, short stories, poetry and even a dating profile. I was so pleased with the number we received and the quality! The project resulted in an exhibition that is currently on display at the RMG until May 1st. Due to spatial restrictions, I wasn’t able to include all of the submissions, however, I will be posting two additional stories each week on the blog for all to enjoy. A huge thank you to everyone who participated!

On April 7th, join us for an evening with the Durham Folklore Storytellers. Using the submissions to the Their Stories exhibition as inspiration, the Durham Folklore Storytellers will take listeners on a journey to imagine the lives of these unidentified people.

– Sonya Jones, Associate Curator

 

Portrait #2

Loneliness

 

Am I to know no one as me

And to be known by none

To have no one to walk with me

As I approach my home.

 

Other lonely paths ‘longside of

mine run parallel

Yet join not mine to make a road

That leads where love can dwell

 

Should kindred spirit call to me

“We two now one shall be”

I’d kindle then the fire of life

To blaze for eternity.

 

 

By: Freda Jepson