"After I was date-raped. I dated and slept with the guy that did it 3 more times. I hoped that if I could make it a "real"relationship I would not have to admit to myself that the rape was real."
Anonymous

Finding healing as a Subversive Stitcher-Women Armed with Needles, facebook online commuity for people with like interest to get connect from all over the world.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Subversive-Stitchers-Women-Armed-with-Needles/309080917039?ref=nf#!/pages/Subversive-Stitchers-Women-Armed-with-Needles/309080917039?ref=nf

For years as an art student when an artist made something that was particularly interesting or different, the battle cry from both professors and students was, " Make multiples, make a hundred of them." This never made sense to me as my work is about me, about something that is troubling to me, or about people I love.

Just as I gave birth to Barry 30 years ago and Kara 25 years ago, each child is unique. My art work is created, given birth, born out of my experience. The creative seed of a concept is planted, after a long gestation time where I love, doubt and hate the experience the concept grows. One day I get to the point where the concept has matured. "It is finished" Not only is the art object complete, I often find myself changed as a result of working through the process from conception to actually giving birth to my art.

Flowers of Secrets is a project that makes perfect, logical sense to create multiples. In fact, there may never be a cut off point when I say it is enough. The goal of my project Flowers of Secrets is to bring healing to a females heart one flower at a time. Slowly and lovingly, stitching helps to bring healing, replacing the feeling of being used, discarded trash into an art object of priceless value. Slowly through prayer and stitching I am creating a treasure. Trash to treasure is an unending process of healing. Unfortunately, there seems to be an unending plethora of secrets women carry in their hearts that allow them to view themselves as trash.

Carefully stitching the secret of another female, praying for her healing, then seeing the collections of completed healing garden of flowers grow can be cathartic relief from a deeply held-in painful traumatic experience. Of course in among the anonymous female secrets you can be sure I have included a few secrets that have been a burden for me to carry alone.

Last night as I was searching PostSecrets to begin a new flowers I discovered this sad secret. http://postsecretarchive.com/2007/12/past-secrets-3/

"After I was date-raped. I dated and slept with the guy that did it 3 more times. I hoped that if I could make it a "real"relationship I would not have to admit to myself that the rape was real."

The pain behind this secret is palpable. I am praying for this woman's healing and peace right now as I work one stitch at a time.