In a live puzzling out of complex matters, a rediscovered collection of letters from the 1940s catalyses a dialogue between then and now. Collective and personal histories collide as we (re)consider and (re)configure the stories we tell and the things we inherit.

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Stories of the Present War is a durational performance project and installation by Becka McFadden and Beautiful Confusion Collective, inspired by a collection of letters written by her grandparents during WWII.

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"Discovering these letters by accident, in my mother’s garage, I began reading and re-reading them at a time when I found myself increasingly distressed and anxious about current geopolitical events - Brexit, Trump, climate change, and now the pandemic - all communicated via a relentless 24-hour news cycle. In this project, I look to the letters for historical perspective and insight into what it was like to live in a time of global conflict. At the same time, and on a more personal level, the discovery of the letters brought me into close contact with my grandparents’ relationship and the bold decisions of their youth that sometimes feel irreconcilable with the older adults I knew.