Frank Warren never thought his PostSecret project would have been this big. “The web allows for me to share secrets with hundreds of thousands of people and because of this new social media, I feel like that’s why the project has gone viral. That’s why so many people are exposed to this,” Warren said. He is grateful that the web helps the PostSecret project touch people all over the world.

Five years ago, Warren put his original PostSecret idea into action. He passed out postcards with his address on them, inviting strangers to share a secret with him through the mail.

The only criteria were that it had to include artwork, be a secret that had never previously been shared, and be truthful. Warren still sees the postcards as “great works of art”, but the truthfulness of the secret isn’t the most important part anymore. What matters is that the secret is being told. “I think sometimes a secret can become true just by telling it,” Warren said.
In the last five years, Warren has received over 450,000 secrets. Remarkably, he has kept each one. “Each one is precious,” he said.

More than anything, Warren feels that he is lucky. He doesn’t know his contributors, and if he does, he doesn’t know that. Part of the beauty Warren sees in PostSecret is the anonymous aspect. “I think it’s a great privilege that somehow I’ve been able to earn the trust of so many strangers,” Warren said.

Frank Warren will be hosting a PostSecret event at the Michigan Theater on Friday, December 4th. He will talk about his books, his project, and invite audience members to share secrets on stage. “I feel like at PostSecret events I can bring these non-judgmental feelings to a physical place,” Warren said.

To Warren, PostSecret is a big art project made up of what he calls “living secrets”. “Someone on the planet is carrying that burden, right now.”