The letters they wrote to each other during the Second World War have inspired a new exhibition which proves that 'love does not change' over time.
The love letters of Gilbert Bradley and Gordon Bowsher were written during World War II, when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK. The letters, which are on display at Oswestry Town Museum in Shropshire, were only discovered after Bradley's death in 2008.
"My love, I stay up all night waiting for the postman early in the morning, and when he doesn't bring anything from you I just exist," it read. Bowsher in a letter.
'Being in love with someone you can't talk to every day'
Drawing inspiration from letters, artist Megan Hayward and poet Emmy Clarke collected 'local love stories from across the decades' and turned them into an exhibition for the art program ART- efact Oswestry.
"I can see, or imagine I can see, what your mother and father's reaction would be...the rest of the world has no idea what our love is - they don't know it's love" "
We were both given the opportunity to see the letters up close," Hayward told PinkNews' Emily Chudy. "I was impressed by the letters, I think nowadays it's easy to forget how instant our communication is and [how] fast love moves, but the letters were a reminder of what it's like to be in love with someone you can't talk to every day. They are the most beautiful declarations of love, of hope for what their lives together could one day be like, and it's remarkable that behind the privacy of pen and paper, they were able to express themselves so freely."
'Love Never Changes'
Exhibition includes framed poems by Clarke, along with Hayward's sound work, which invites visitors to "sit in the warm seat and pick up the phone if they want to hear local love stories from across the decades ».
Hayward told PinkNews about the exhibition: “My work was inspired by love through the ages, sharing excerpts from local love stories across the spectrum of sexuality, [I wanted] to show that love never changes, no matter what. form of communication or from among whom they are'.
»Gilbert and Gordon's letters are actually woven with contemporary stories and together with another set of letters found by someone's grandson, prove how love is love. It's hard to pick a favorite [letter], but I can't ignore the love story of two young lesbians and the associated realization of why one feels fear."
»The discovery of these letters and their comforting influence on the local LGBTI+ community is truly something else. It's easy to feel lonely in a rural town, cut off from the big cities, but knowing that these letters passed through the town so many years ago is a beautiful reminder of how far society has come."
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