Can you keep a secret? Well, Frank Warren can.
"I'm starting rabbinical school and I love bacon!"
"I'm 25, and I've never been kissed. It's not that I don't want to… It's just that no one else does."
"I had not one, but two abortions. I've never felt guilty!"
These are just a few of the secrets that travel from all over the world and wind up in his mailbox in Germantown, Md. Warren, creator of an ongoing art project called PostSecret, sifts through more than a thousand secrets per week that are artistically displayed on postcards and anonymously sent to him. He then selects some to show in PostSecret's blog, books and exhibits. He has received more than 250,000 postcards from all over the world since the project started in November of 2004.
Warren said he believes there are two types of secrets: ones we hide from other people and ones we hide from ourselves. His inspiration to start PostSecret came from a secret he hid from himself.
On Tuesday, Warren will reveal this secret to those who attend the PostSecret event at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. He will also share images that were banned from his four PostSecret books, reveal inspirational stories behind PostSecret, and let audience members have a chance to tell their secrets too.
Nicole Keimer, an intern for PostSecret who has been working with Warren for more than two years, said that PostSecret has made an incredible impact on her life. She used to be conservative and narrow-minded, but reading thousands of secrets for the project has made her more understanding of humanity, especially the more socially unaccepted side of it.
"Often, when I meet people, I wonder what their secret is, and I think of some of the most depressing secrets I have seen. I have a bit more compassion and patience with people as a result, knowing that we all have our secrets," Keimer said.
PostSecret doesn't only serve as an outlet for people to admit their deepest secrets. It also gives people the courage to take action after releasing their burdens.
Keimer said that one example of PostSecret's effect gives her chills. After attending a PostSecret event, a woman came home and put Warren's book on the table. When her daughter saw it, the woman explained that it is a book full of secrets. After a while, the daughter asked the mother if she could reveal one of her own secrets. She confessed that her father had been molesting her, and the mother immediately left her husband.
"It is such a great story about how inspiring PostSecret can be, and how it can really open up for the possibility to share what may never have been shared otherwise," Keimer said.
Warren didn't expect to touch so many people when creating the art project more than four years ago, and he doesn't set limits to where PostSecret will take off in the future.
