PostSecret 6

Here's an interview with Frank Warren (the creator of PostSecret) I found it quite interesting :)

20 Questions with Frank Warren
Written by Scott Semegran
Thursday, 03 August 2006

Do you feel the urge to reveal your deepest, darkest secrets? If you do, you are not alone. Thousands of people have revealed their secrets on a web site called PostSecret.com. According to Technorati, PostSecret.com is the seventh most popular blog on the internet as of August 1, 2006. What is PostSecret? It’s a web site that invites you to anonymously reveal your secrets. The directions are simple:

“Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.”

Create a 4-by-6-inch postcard and draw, paint, or cut and paste whatever you desire to reveal your secret. Then anonymously mail to it to Frank Warren, the artist behind the project. Every Sunday, he puts the postcards on his web site. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny, and sometimes sad, it’s hard not to feel a wide range of emotions when reading the submissions. The skeptic in me ponders if the secrets are really secrets at all. But the artist in me knows that it really doesn’t matter if the person is telling the truth or not. We all have secrets. We all have something we hide about ourselves. It’s the choice to reveal what we want to the world that makes us who we are. And reading the submissions reveals more about us than it does the person who submitted it. It should remind us all that we have our own secrets to deal with.

PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives is a collection of submissions to PostSecret and it has garnered rave reviews. And Frank is currently busy prepping a new book titled My Secret: A PostSecret Book, scheduled to be released this October. He took time out of his busy schedule to answer our 20 Questions. Read what he had to say:

Q: When was the last time YOU confessed a secret?
I'm not Catholic so I am not required to confess. (Did I sidestep that successfully?)

Q: According to about.com, "The sacrament [of confession in Catholicism] is used for the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism. It's a sign from God to impart grace to the soul. We reconcile ourselves with God through confession." Do you see any parallels between this Catholic sacrament and your audience confessing their secrets to the PostSecret community?
I think sharing a secret can be thought of as a spiritual experience, among other ways. I know that some of the postcards I receive display artwork and care that appears to have taken such an investment in time and effort. Much more than would be necessary to simply tell a secret. I think these cards represent something more than we can see. Maybe for these people, sharing their secret is a search for grace.

Q: What is your selection criteria for posting on PostSecret?
When I travel to college campuses and talk about what people like to see on the web site this is what they tell me. They like secrets that have a strong visual message and a simple easy to read secret. They like secrets that they have not seen before. And they appreciate a variety of sexual, philosophical, humorous, remorseful and joyful secrets every week.

Q: Many of the submissions are altered or modified versions of post cards that can be bought in a store. Have you encountered any issues with claims of copyright infringement?
Very little for the website and traveling art exhibit. A few have been vetted by my attorney for the books.

Q: Do you have a philosophy to live by?
We are all on our own journey from the home we were born into toward the home we make for ourselves.

Q: Why are people compelled to tell their secrets?
I think on the website I have created an environment where a person can share a private secret without any social cost.

Q: What inspires you as an artist?
A tedious business.

Q: Have you received any requests to reveal the owner of a submission?
Sometimes I receive multiple emails from people sure that the same secret is from someone they know. They all want me to confirm a return address. I never do. I suggest instead that they chose to believe whatever will make their life more meaningful.

Q: Are you a spiritual person?
My faith is a work in progress. Currently I am discovering spiritual meaning in how the pain and suffering I experienced growing up is enabling me to find purpose as an adult.

Q: How did your association with hopeline.com come about?
I have been a volunteer taking hopeline calls for over three years now. I have also lost a friend and family member to suicide.

Q: A New York Times review claims, "[PostSecret] isn't really a true confessional after all. It is a piece of collaborative art." Do you agree with that?
I would rather not define the project. It is what it is. I am moved by it and if others continued to be moved by it too, I will keep going.

Q: If you were trapped on a deserted island, what three things would you need to survive?
I just need one thing, New York City.

Q: Do you have a favorite submission? If not, do you have a submission that comes to mind, for whatever reason, above all the others?
A person mailed me a photograph and on the back wrote. "I steal small things from my friends to keep memories of how much I love them." Sometime I laugh when I read that, other times it makes me sad. It's now my favorite poem.

Q: Are you an Elvis man or a Beatles man?
I like them both. But if I had to pick which superpower I wanted between flying and being invisible, I would chose flying. Because sometimes seeing so many secrets makes me feel like I am invisibly watching people's lives already.

Q: According to an article on usatoday.com, PostSecret is your third art project. Tell us about some other art projects you've worked on?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4415-2004Oct3.html

Q: What words of wisdom did your father share with you? Was it good advice?
I told me father last week that watching him try to start several small businesses and fail was a great lesson for me. It showed me that there is no shame in trying something and failing and it demonstrated to me how hard one has to work to create and grow a business or any venture.

Q: Will there be a documentary filmed about PostSecret?
There are talks now but nothing is set.

Q: Were you originally surprised at the amount of creativity these strangers had at artistically expressing themselves?
For me this was a great surprise. How courage can be more important than talent or technique in creating meaningful art.

Q: What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Take the dog out to go pee. Pick up my New York Times. Walk downstairs and check my email.

Q: Do you see a future without secrets appearing in your mailbox?
I hope they never stop. (There's your secret).

Please visit postsecret.com.

http://www.quirkee.com/interviews/20-questions/20-questions-with-frank-warren.html