Posted: 3/29/07 Section: Diversions

Media Credit: Dana Larson

Everyone has a secret.

Our differences lie within these hidden aspects of our lives that remain hidden from even our closest friends and relatives.

But what happens when those secrets get out?

That is the question raised by the art exhibit coming to Krannert Art Museum on April 18, "Secrets Revealed = Secrets Shared."

Anne Sautman, the director of education at Krannert, appeals to the students and the C-U community for help to answer this question.

"Basically we are asking people in the community to submit postcards that tell us their secrets," Sautman said. "We've got quite a few."

She said that this exhibit was initiated by a student, Jennifer Kitchka, junior in Fine and Applied Arts.

"Kitchka came up with the idea, and had the initiative to approach us with the idea, and then we got the idea approved," Sautman said. "We decided it would be a really fun thing to do here."

Thus "Secrets Revealed" was born.

The inspiration for this exhibit came from the popular Web site PostSecret, which has a similar concept, except the secrets are posted on the Internet for the entire world to see.

Although Frank Warren, creator of the Web site, has been contacted, the exhibit is independent of the Web site, Kitchka said.

According to the Web site, "PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard."

New secrets are posted every Sunday, and each batch of secrets is always different.

Each secret on the Web site produces a unique feeling, whether it be an intense sadness or just a few laughs.

One of the secrets is an off-centered photograph of a dancer's arms, amidst a slightly faded black backdrop, with the words, "It hurts to jazz hands after I cut myself, but the show must go on," written in white and red.

While another secret is a drawing of Big Ben in England, with the words, "When my Mum calls my cell phone, I know it's her since I set the ring tone to sound like a cuckoo clock."

It is with the expectation that people will be serious in admitting their deepest darkest secrets that a sense of comfort can be produced, Kitchka said.

"The point of the exhibit is to show people that we are not alone. It's surprising and comforting to see that we are not alone in our secrets," she said. "My hope is that writing the secrets down and mailing them to us will be a cathartic experience. I hope they feel released or freed from their secrets."

Continued...

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