Unasked Questions & Unexpected Answers: How to track a mole cricket?

In creating this piece, I delved into the realm of the unseen, beneath the soil, where life and mystery intertwine. Employing pen and India ink, I've crafted a semi-abstract world that straddles the fine line between surrealism and symbolic narrative. The sinuous plants and the elusive mole cricket emerge in sharp, evocative contrasts, inviting viewers into an enigmatic underground dance. It's a visual poem of earth’s hidden vigor, poised to spark imagination and add a touch of intrigue to any space.

"As a child, I helped my grandmother look for mole crickets in the garden. I had a special ability to find nests. This process requires keen senses and subtle attention. You need to stand still in space, so as not to create vibrations of the environment, to look at the surface of the soil and to observe, listening to your intuition. What paths and holes do different insects and animals leave on the soil surface? What traces are left by the sun, wind, rain, by static and dynamic forces?

You learn to notice how processes and various objects affect the landscape. You begin to read surfaces like maps, deducing stories from them. Through this research, you realize that it doesn't take much noise and actions to influence events. One leverage point is enough to change the trajectory of the whole plot.

But back to the mole crickets. Remember, we are looking for nests. Some footprints evoke the feeling that something other than what is shown is hidden underneath. It is such a specific feeling when several signals contradict each other. As if someone is out of tune in the orchestra and does not fall into the general harmony of the sounds. And there is always a secret - or a lie - depending on how straightforward we want to be. When your gaze meets such footprints, such holes, you need to start pouring water into them. You don't need to know where the nest is because as soon as it is full of water, the mole crickets will crawl straight up, and then you just need to dig deep right there.

So, what am I talking about here? I am telling you that intuition is no magic. It is the ability to very subtly feel and understand the signals that come, and to unpack this information into consciousness. It is the ability to quietly observe processes and to test your theories by pouring water into suspicious holes in the ground. Observe and talk about nothing, and keep pouring drops into dissonant places, keep touching the footprints, and the secrets will open by themselves.

If you feel a lie - do not ask directly, or you will scare it away. Let them lie. Only in silence one can show one’s true self because no matter what happens, silence will never strike back, so it means that one can just be one’s genuine self in it. Therefore, silence knows everything. And if someone did not lie in the face of silence and gentleness, greet them for they are your friend.

We cut off the heads of the mole crickets because if you give the parasites a harvest, then the people who worked hard will have nothing to eat. But there is nothing to worry about: nature abhors distortion, and for every mole cricket it creates a tracker."