'The Hidden Heart' is an illustration commissioned for the cover of InPittsburgh Magazine (which later became Pittsburgh City Paper) in 1999. It was that week's feature article, an exposé on the secret nature of domestic violence and offering information to victims for professional and legal aid. I chose the symbol of the Russian matryoshka nesting figurine, a hollow carved figure that contains duplicates of itself in descending sizes within. The hidden nature of this iconic figure seemed the perfect metaphor to express the often deceptively calm exterior that conceals the hidden heartbreak of domestic violence.