by Ivana Markotic

“I pretend to sneeze in public so strangers will bless me.” This is just one of over two-hundred and fifty secrets on postcards included in Frank Warren’s new compilation book PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God.

What started as an art project in 2004 when Warren called upon people to anonymously mail their secrets to him on a postcard has evolved into a worldwide confessional. In five years, Warren has collected over four hundred thousand secrets that are anonymous and individually decorated– twenty of which are selected for his popular blog www.postsecret.com every Sunday. 

Warren seems to have found the secret to long term success as an artist by asking the world to contribute something that people will always have in abundance: secrets.  Funny, sad and often shocking, Warren ties in all of these emotions for the theme of faith in his fifth compilation, PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God.

Inspired by the 2008 PostSecret art exhibit “All Faiths Beautiful” at the American Visionary Art Museum, the book contains never before seen secrets. Unlike the previous releases, three short stories are included and the smaller size of the book dedicates a single page to a secret, making them stand out as individual works of art. 

Addressing all faiths and questions about life and death, Warren again manages to compile the most riveting secrets that find an audience in every age group, race and sex.  Flipping through the book of secrets, it’s odd that something we keep to ourselves has universal reach and is shared by at least one other person and it takes a postcard in a book to realize it. Who knew postcard confessionals could be so powerful? 

PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God is released October 6th, 2009.