greg streak

hermit (2000)

Project : !Xoe Bienale
Curator: Mark Wilby
Place : Nieu-Bethesda, South Africa (2000)
Work : Hermit

Streak’s output to date reveals a conceptual consistency that one suspects is only truly clear with the benefit of hindsight. Hermit (2000) is a minimal, beveled, cruciform shape sunk into the earth. Simultaneously archaic yet reminiscent of what we are told evidence from alien landings might look like, Hermit is a suffocating, invisible tomb – the criss-cross roofs of a house, bastion of domesticity and signifier of culture rather than nature, now subsumed by its harsh environment. Considering Streak’s ongoing project Proposals for places I’d like to Live, there is a sense of irony here. Hermits, in many instances, choose their isolation. It’s a self-imposed imprisonment rather than an enforced one.- Kathryn Smith