Cricket Saleh, Sullied
"A confession.
The intention with Sullied was to get some flesh in there.
It needed red, and it needed to hurt a little.
This work shifts the gaze a few degrees, from human consumption to individual and collective value systems, and the impact they have on the natural world.
I was very much committed to working with the interior/still life and in the landscape, but as the work unfurled, I found myself incapable of leaving the interior. I became fearful of enlarging the space. I found incredible comfort in the steaming, and the folding. I meditated in the unravelling and the decay.
I am at peace with this, as this work is a conduit between the past, and readies me for the next. The exhibition houses all the symbols, vessels and vehicles I have used in my work for the past 15 years. In Sullied I lay them bare.
Sullied is also where Thomas enters the frame. More on him later."