Veiled Secrets is an excerpt from a letter of a wife of a perpetrator of violence.  It tells of her reactions to the horrors revealed. The piece depicts the emotions of many women in this same situation as gradually the horrific truth emerges and becomes visible and she realizes this perpetrator is her son, her father, her husband, her brother, her friend.

28" x 17.5"  Mixed Media       (2000)

A major impact of the TRC hearings were the revelations to the white community of South Africa as to the depth, horror and prevalence of the crimes perpetrated by the various branches of the government against the black majority. As thousands came forward and told their stories, both victims and perpetrators, the true extent of these gruesome atrocities and gross violations of human rights emerged. Stories of hideous, brutal events poured forth as victims attempted to simultaneously reveal and heal their past.

To many white South Africans so much of what they heard and saw through the televised TRC hearings was new information which either confirmed suspicions long-held or revealed ugly truths unthought of. The country needed to heal from it's past, but first had to look the ugly truth in the face and acknowledge its own evil.

As perpetrators' amnesty applications disclosed the details of the crimes, so their family members began to see who these people really were. Suddenly the man you had been married to and who was the loving father of your children was exposed: he was a killer; a torturer; an assassin; a monster. From his point of view he was just doing his job.