SECRETS

We all know what it’s like to keep a secret, no matter how big or small. One can argue that it is human nature to keep secrets. Everyday secrets can be as simple as attempting to hide a perceived body flaw with makeup or clothing, quickly tidying the house before an unexpected guest arrives, or telling an untruth to preserve a friendship. However, holding onto a long standing deep-seated secret can profoundly affect the life of the holder. The concealment of a secret can affect how we conduct our daily lives as we attempt to keep it from bobbing to the surface and being revealed.

The images in this series represent the journey of keeping, burying, and guarding secrets, and how our lives unfold in tandem with this process. Dampened and buried facets of persona are the casualties of the held secret as we become unknowingly entangled with the secret itself. However, when revealed, the holder experiences a release, relief, and ultimate liberation.

Depictions of constriction, closure, depth and darkness, entanglement and fragility in tandem with representations of release, rebirth, and revelation are at the heart of this series.

If you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself. -George Orwell, 1984

Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned. - James Joyce, Ulysses