Sub Rosa.

Sub Rosa explores secrecy and its transformation when exposed. It examines how hidden information, once unveiled, undergoes distortion or destruction. It questions how power structures manipulate visibility and shape narratives for their own ends.

According to Greek mythology, it is said that Cupid gave an open rose to Harpocrates, the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality, to bribe him not to disclose the indiscretions of his mother, Venus. This is where the Latin phrase sub rosa originates from keeping Venus’ and the gods’ affairs a secret. Sint vera vel ficta, taceantur sub rosa dicta, which translates as: Whether true or made up, let words spoken under the rose remain secret.

Sub rosa delves into the nature of secrecy, visualising the transformative effects that occur when secrets are exposed to the public eye. At its core, the work investigates how hidden information—when unveiled—undergoes a process of transformation, even destruction, becoming bruised, distorted, and damaged. It explores the ways in which power structures influence and shape these transformations, often manipulating the visibility and integrity of information for their own ends. These pictures evoke the potential violence inherent in secrecy, illustrating how initially hiding the information and then the act of exposing, erasing, or distorting information can be a form of aggression. In this sense, Sub Rosa visualizes the scars left on information, questioning how power alters, wounds, and sometimes obliterates the original essence of what was once concealed. Using the idea of information destruction and document shredding and to visualise the concept of secrecy, I shredded photographic negatives—akin to how documents are destroyed to protect their contents—before reassambling and scanning them. Where negatives are often seen as sacred, this act subverted their traditional value, reflecting the violence inherent in exposing hidden truths.

Sub Rosa also highlights the tension between a secret’s concealed identity and its public representation. It reflects on the inherent duality of a secret while it remains hidden, it retains its integrity and value—protected and whole—but once brought into the light, it is no longer a cohesive entity. Exposure fractures it, transforming it into a mere shadow of itself—an image detached from its original meaning. In the process of becoming visible, the secret’s value may be diminished, its authenticity distorted, and its identity compromised. As it enters the public domain, it evolves into a fragmented representation, no longer capable of carrying the weight it once held in its concealed form. Sub Rosa thus contemplates how secrets, when released into the world, may both lose their power and also become symbols of what is erased, manipulated, and even forgotten. The work underscores how information, when subjected to the forces of exposure and power, is no longer just data—it is scarred, fragmented, and often unrecognizable from its original state.